England will be tasked with stopping Robert Lewandowski’s Poland in qualifying for Qatar 2022 as they bid to take part in a seventh World Cup in succession.
The Three Lions, who have not missed the global tournament since 1994, will be favourites to top a group that also contains Hungary, Albania, Andorra and San Marino.
Scotland will also fancy their chances of progress, with Denmark and Austria among the weaker sides from the top two pots of seeds featuring in their group, as well as Israel, the Faroe Islands and Moldova.
Wales face the world’s No 1 ranked side Belgium, plus the Czech Republic, Belarus and Estonia while Northern Ireland look to have one of the tougher groups with Italy, Switzerland, Bulgaria and Lithuania.
World Cup 2022 qualifying groups
Group A:
- Portugal
- Serbia
- Republic of Ireland
- Luxembourg
- Azerbaijan
Group B:
- Spain
- Sweden
- Greece
- Georgia
- Kosovo
Group C:
- Italy
- Switzerland
- Northern Ireland
- Bulgaria
- Lithuania
Group D:
- France
- Ukraine
- Finland
- Bosnia
- Kazakhstan
Group E:
- Belgium
- Wales
- Czech Republic
- Belarus
- Estonia
Group F:
- Denmark
- Austria
- Scotland
- Israel
- Faroe Islands
- Moldova
Group G:
- Netherlands
- Turkey
- Norway
- Montenegro
- Latvia
- Gibraltar
Group H:
- Croatia
- Slovakia
- Russia
- Slovenia
- Cyprus
- Malta
Group I:
- England
- Poland
- Hungary
- Albania
- Andorra
- San Marino
Group J:
- Germany
- Romania
- Iceland
- North Macedonia
- Armenia
- Liechtenstein
How does qualifying work?
Between March and November 2021, each side will play the other teams in their groups at home and away.
The 10 teams who win their respective groups will qualify automatically, while the 10 runners-up will head into the play-offs.
They will be joined by two more teams – the two best group winners from the Uefa Nations League 2020-21 who did not qualify directly and also failed to reach the play-offs in their qualifying group.
The final play-offs, which will be split into three pathways, will take place in March 2022, with three spots at Qatar up for grabs.
When do the qualifiers take place?
- Matchday 1: 24–25 March 2021
- Matchday 2: 27–28 March 2021
- Matchday 3: 30–31 March 2021
- Matchday 4: 1–2 September 2021
- Matchday 5: 4–5 September 2021
- Matchday 6: 7–8 September 2021
- Matchday 7: 8–9 October 2021
- Matchday 8: 11–12 October 2021
- Matchday 9: 11–13 November 2021
- Matchday 10: 14–16 November 2021
- Play-offs: 24, 25, 28, 29 March 2022
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3gksxgD
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