World Cup 2022: Who has qualified? Which African Countries will be there ? And who are the favourites?

Updated by April ,02, 2022

It all starts in November, with the final in Doha a week before Christmas. England feature on the first day with their match against Iran scheduled to take place just eight days after the Premier League shuts down.

The teams who have qualified for this year's World Cup in Qatar now know who they are up against in the group stages of the tournament.

The first match is scheduled for 21 November at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, as the hosts play Ecuador, and the final will be played at the Lusail Stadium in Doha a week before Christmas on 18 December.

Of the 32 participants, 29 have already booked their place to take part in the first winter World Cup.

The final three places will be decided in June at the intercontinental play-offs, as well as the European play-off final featuring Wales against either Scotland or Ukraine, whose tie was postponed because of the war.

World Cup draw in full

Group A: Qatar, Netherlands, Senegal, Ecuador

Group B: England, USA, Iran, Wales/Scotland/Ukraine

Group C: Argentina, Mexico, Poland, Saudi Arabia

Group D: France, Denmark, Tunisia, UAE/Australia/Peru

Group E: Spain, Germany, Japan, Costa Rica/New Zealand

Group F: Belgium, Croatia, Morocco, Canada

Group G: Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia, Cameroon

Group H: Portugal, Uruguay, South Korea, Ghana

and who won't be there

Paul Pogba was a key part in France's win in 2018

Four-times winners Italy are the biggest European team to miss out on a place in Qatar after they failed to qualify for the tournament for a second time in a row following their shock play-off defeat to North Macedonia.

Mo Salah's Egypt will also not feature in Qatar after the African Cup of Nations runners-up lost 3-1 on penalties to Senegal.

Colombia, ranked 19th in the world and with the likes of Luis Diaz, James Rodriguez and Juan Cuadrado, also miss out.

Who are the favourites?

England will be among the favourites going into Qatar, after reaching the final of Euro 2020 last year - only to lose on penalties to Italy.

The Three Lions also exceeded expectations in Russia four years ago by reaching the semi-finals, and will be hoping to better that this year.

But the bookies are tipping Brazil, one of the perennial favourites, and holders France, while Spain, Germany, Argentina, and Belgium will all hope to be in contention.

Portugal, who will likely be led out by Cristiano Ronaldo, and 2018 runners-up Croatia can be considered outsiders.

Of the 21 tournaments to take place so far, nine have been held outside of Europe and only twice has a European team won the World Cup outside of Europe - Spain in 2010 and Germany in 2014.

What is the format and schedule?

Four group matches will be played each day, with the first phase of the tournament running for 12 days.

The top two teams in each group progress to the round of 16.

Matches will be assigned to stadiums after the draw.

Round of 16 matches will take place on 3-6 December, the quarter-finals on 9 and 10 December, and the semi-final ties on 13 and 14 December.

FIFA has confirmed the first two rounds of matches will kick off at 1pm, 4pm, 7pm and 10pm local time (10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm in the UK).

Kick-off times in the final round of group games and knock-out rounds will be at 6pm and 10pm local time (3pm and 7pm UK time).

The final is scheduled to kick-off at 6pm local time (3pm UK time) on 18 December.

A third-place play-off, the match no one wants to play, will take place on 17 December.

Who could be the stars?

Qatar could well be the last chance for Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the twin giants of the 21st century, to win a World Cup.

Both will be determined to take their teams to football's pinnacle before hanging up their boots and Ronaldo will be supported by Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Joao Cancelo, and Diogo Jota.

Messi will hope the likes of Angel Di Maria, Lautaro Martinez and Paulo Dybala can help Argentina lift the trophy.

France's star-studded team stormed the tournament in Russia but had a disappointing Euro 2020, where Les Bleus lost to Switzerland on penalties.

Football writers have marked PSG's Kylian Mbappe as the heir to Messi and Ronaldo and expect the forward to be key to France's chances.

While Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling drew plaudits in the last two tournaments for England, a host of young players will be vastly more experienced.

The likes of Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho, Bukayo Saka, Mason Mount and Declan Rice have all become established stars in the Premier League since 2018, but Jude Bellingham could make the difference for England.

The exciting midfielder has shown maturity at Borussia Dortmund in the last 18 months, despite still being a teenager.

He has been a squad player for Gareth Southgate since 2020, but showed his potential earlier this month when he was named Man of the Match in a friendly against the Ivory Coast.

Canada have qualified for the World Cup for only the second time.

Canadian football has seen a resurgence in recent years, and Bayern Munich's Alphonso Davies is the poster boy for the North Americans.

While he is currently out of action after doctors identified a heart problem, he will be key to Canada's hopes of progressing out of their group.

Salah may have missed out on the tournament, but his Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane, whose Senegal team knocked the Egyptians out in qualifying, will be hoping to take the West Africans deep into the tournament.

The forward was key to Senegal's success in the African Cup of Nations this year.

Germany's Kai Havertz will be hoping to continue his good form at Chelsea going into the tournament.

He has been pivotal to Chelsea's success since Thomas Tuchel took charge, scoring the winning goal in the Champions League final last May.

Spanish youngster Pedri showed glimpses of his talent at Euro 2020 and has established himself as a key part of Xavi's Barcelona team, drawing comparisons to Andres Iniesta.

He will turn 20 in Qatar and is a sure bet for one of the young players to watch during the tournament.