The international qualifiers that set the World Cup lineup have evolved considerably over the past decade. New formats reflect the diversity of continental football cultures, while expanding tournaments and advanced technology reshape the landscape for global competitions.
The most important change is how FIFA determines its qualifying rules and procedures. The organization now awards places based on the top 10 nations in the latest FIFA World Ranking, not just the two highest-ranked teams. This change opens the door for a greater number of countries to qualify for the 2022 tournament.
In addition, the tie-breaker rule now considers head-to-head results, followed by goal difference, and then away goals. This is meant to provide greater fairness for teams that have the same goal difference but differ in the head-to-head record.
Another big shift is that most knockout qualifiers are played over two legs. This helps to ensure that the best team will win. The team that scores a higher aggregate score wins the tie, while in cases of a draw extra time and penalty shootouts may be used to decide the winner.
The qualification process for next summer’s World Cup in North America is still underway, with most of the European teams that aren’t competing in UEFA’s Nations League starting their campaign this month. The group stage will start in March, with each group consisting of four or five nations. The draw for that phase takes place on Dec. 13, but some groups won’t play their first qualifier until September because fixture slots have to be left open for the UNL playoffs and the inter-confederation playoffs.