Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay will represent South America at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar
Those who are interested in football will be familiar with the FIFA World Cup. It is a tournament held every four years. This is considered one of the most watched sports worldwide. The 2022 FIFA World Cup will be held in the Middle East country of Qatar.
There are eight groups of four teams each. The top two teams in each group advance to the "Round of 16" where they face each other. A draw is worth one point. If a team loses, they don't earn any points. During the "Round of 16", a team is eliminated. If a team wins, they earn three points.
Ecuador has a solid chance to qualify. They are in fourth place in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying. They have a six-point lead over the rest of the pack. If they win against Uruguay, they will automatically qualify for the World Cup. If they lose, they will have to rely on an inter-continental play-off berth.
South American section of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup
Originally, the South American section of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was scheduled to begin in September 2020. However, a pandemic forced a postponement and the league was pushed back until November 2021. However, all 10 national teams from CONMEBOL entered the qualification process.
The qualification process was divided into three play-off paths. One path led to the first round of matches, which included home and away matches. The other paths led to the second round and the third round.
In the first round, six teams competed in a two-legged home and away series. The group winner advanced to the second round, which included the other team from the group. The winner of the second round advanced to the third round, where it played the other team from the group in a single leg knockout. The fifth-best group runner up advanced to the AFC third round.
In the second round, six teams competed in a single round robin. The winner of the round advanced to the third round, where it met the other team from the group in a two-legged home andaway series.
South American section of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as play-off stages
Having missed out on qualification for the last three World Cups, Qatar finally secured a place at the 2022 edition as hosts. Having already qualified for the Asian Cup and 2022 World Cup, Qatar had a unique advantage of being automatically included in the qualification.
In the first two rounds, each team played each other team in their group once. The top two teams in each group advanced to a single-legged knockout stage. This was followed by a series of round-robin matches, which took place in a league format.
After this, the top three teams directly qualified for the 2022 World Cup. However, the winners of each group also occupied a place in the UEFA playoff round. The fifth-placed team went on to compete in the intercontinental playoff round.
The intercontinental playoff round took place in June 2022. The winner of this round advanced to a playoff against the winner of the inter-confederation play-offs. The winner of the playoff round advanced to the finals.
South American section of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as group stage
During the FIFA World Cup qualification process in 2022, there are eight teams that will compete for the same number of World Cup spots. Three teams qualify directly, and the other three will compete in the inter-confederation play-offs. The first team to qualify will then advance to the final round, which will take place in March and October 2021.
FIFA's six confederations (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, and South America) carried out separate draws to avoid any overlaps. Each confederation had its own qualification process, which started in June 2019. Each qualifying round lasted 11 weeks and included two home games and two away games. All teams played at least one match against every other team in their group. The top two teams from each group advanced to the single-leg knockout stage. The top two teams must also have a better head-to-head matchup than the other teams.
In the first round, teams were divided into six groups of five teams. The top six teams in each group qualified for the next round. The next eight teams were divided into Pots. The Pots were based on the teams' FIFA World Ranking. Pot one contained teams ranked 6-35, Pot two had teams ranked 37-53, and Pot three included teams ranked 56-65.