2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar - UEFA Qualifiers

[Sithara007]

In my opinion, Africa is the most unfair in all of this, a very large continent only has 5 seats, I still don't understand why the corrupt Africans who run soccer don't do anything about it, they just swallow frogs and let FIFA do whatever they want and they don't impose

I would disagree with you. From 2026 onwards, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) will be allotted 9 slots, up from 5 they had in 2022. And in my opinion, allotting 9 to a weak confederation such as CAF is extremely unfair to CONMEBOL, who are left with just 6 slots. How can you justify giving more slots to a weaker confederation? Africa may be a large continent with dozens of teams, but most of their star players migrate to Europe and play for other countries. In the end, these teams perform poorly at the world cup.

[Oneandpure]

In my opinion, Africa is the most unfair in all of this, a very large continent only has 5 seats, I still don't understand why the corrupt Africans who run soccer don't do anything about it, they just swallow frogs and let FIFA do whatever they want and they don't impose

I would disagree with you. From 2026 onwards, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) will be allotted 9 slots, up from 5 they had in 2022. And in my opinion, allotting 9 to a weak confederation such as CAF is extremely unfair to CONMEBOL, who are left with just 6 slots. How can you justify giving more slots to a weaker confederation? Africa may be a large continent with dozens of teams, but most of their star players migrate to Europe and play for other countries. In the end, these teams perform poorly at the world cup.

Depend with CONMEBOL I think the Confederation of African Football (CAF) most competitive and they can get many slots from CONMEBOL zone, but every world cup season always giving many slots for EUROPE zone and ASIAN always have little slot in world cup season. Have an ideas from FIFA president every two years will world cup playing and give chance for many countries get to participants on world cup, although many player disagree maybe good ideas for country never success reach world cup final competition like my country. But very disappointed maybe will collision with UEFA CUP or ASIAN CUP if try every two years world cup held.

[joker_josue]

There is also one thing that we cannot forget: the cost for a national team that participates in a World Cup.

Participation in the World Cup involves the cost of travel for all players, technical staff and staff. Expenses with accommodation and food for about 40~50 people, travel between hotel and stadiums, as well as other associated expenses.

Of course, FIFA can help, and should help, but the biggest expense always falls on the federations.

And often the World Cup takes place in countries that are not exactly cheap. In 2026 the race will be in Canada, Mexico and the United States, it will certainly not be the cheapest places to travel and host.

There will always be sponsorships, but will a "small" team from Africa have enough support?

Of course, this does not justify Africa having few vacancies, but it is an element to be taken into account.

[KTChampions]

In my opinion, Africa is the most unfair in all of this, a very large continent only has 5 seats, I still don't understand why the corrupt Africans who run soccer don't do anything about it, they just swallow frogs and let FIFA do whatever they want and they don't impose

I would disagree with you. From 2026 onwards, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) will be allotted 9 slots, up from 5 they had in 2022. And in my opinion, allotting 9 to a weak confederation such as CAF is extremely unfair to CONMEBOL, who are left with just 6 slots. How can you justify giving more slots to a weaker confederation? Africa may be a large continent with dozens of teams, but most of their star players migrate to Europe and play for other countries. In the end, these teams perform poorly at the world cup.

Now Africa will have 9.5 quotas (one quota over 9 will be played in play-offs, that is, in fact, Africa can get 10 quotas), and UEFA only 16 - what kind of nonsense is this? The 17th and 18th European teams that could go to the World Cup will tear any team from Africa, but they will sit at home since there will be 9 (or 10 African teams) at the championship. Damn FIFA continues its corrupt games and I'm more and more thinking that we should just ignore these outdated miserable competitions. Club football is the most efficient and fair.

[Juggy777]

In my opinion, Africa is the most unfair in all of this, a very large continent only has 5 seats, I still don't understand why the corrupt Africans who run soccer don't do anything about it, they just swallow frogs and let FIFA do whatever they want and they don't impose

I would disagree with you. From 2026 onwards, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) will be allotted 9 slots, up from 5 they had in 2022. And in my opinion, allotting 9 to a weak confederation such as CAF is extremely unfair to CONMEBOL, who are left with just 6 slots. How can you justify giving more slots to a weaker confederation? Africa may be a large continent with dozens of teams, but most of their star players migrate to Europe and play for other countries. In the end, these teams perform poorly at the world cup.

Now Africa will have 9.5 quotas (one quota over 9 will be played in play-offs, that is, in fact, Africa can get 10 quotas), and UEFA only 16 - what kind of nonsense is this? The 17th and 18th European teams that could go to the World Cup will tear any team from Africa, but they will sit at home since there will be 9 (or 10 African teams) at the championship. Damn FIFA continues its corrupt games and I'm more and more thinking that we should just ignore these outdated miserable competitions. Club football is the most efficient and fair.

I believe people running FIFA have no clue on how to assign quotas and they keep on experimenting to see what works, and sadly in the process they end up destroying the game we love so much. Lastly we can criticise them all we want, but this is the reality and sadly we need to accept it and move on because they won’t bend their ego and do what’s right for this sport.

[joker_josue]

I believe people running FIFA have no clue on how to assign quotas and they keep on experimenting to see what works, and sadly in the process they end up destroying the game we love so much. Lastly we can criticise them all we want, but this is the reality and sadly we need to accept it and move on because they won’t bend their ego and do what’s right for this sport.

How do you think the division should be done?
Equal quota for all continents? With the exception of the little ones.

Then, he asked: if not even the few countries that go from some continents, today, are able to face the countries of Europe, which includes weaker countries. What would it be like afterwards?

[SirLancelot]

I believe people running FIFA have no clue on how to assign quotas and they keep on experimenting to see what works, and sadly in the process they end up destroying the game we love so much. Lastly we can criticise them all we want, but this is the reality and sadly we need to accept it and move on because they won’t bend their ego and do what’s right for this sport.

Every one is going with his own statement and view but remember few things even Africa and Asia are biggest in population but sadly in quality these both are much behind UEFA because of their own sacks but in Europe we have much higher quality in soccer, so they deserve this all on other side in African many players are now slipping into Europe for better future and Asia is still had no good structure.

About CONMEBOL, they are also having some better quality, but they are OK with current number of teams. Right now Asia need to improve quality for having some better number, but it's not easy for them and European dominance is unchallengeable for all others in quality.

[KTChampions]

Now Africa will have 9.5 quotas (one quota over 9 will be played in play-offs, that is, in fact, Africa can get 10 quotas), and UEFA only 16 - what kind of nonsense is this? The 17th and 18th European teams that could go to the World Cup will tear any team from Africa, but they will sit at home since there will be 9 (or 10 African teams) at the championship. Damn FIFA continues its corrupt games and I'm more and more thinking that we should just ignore these outdated miserable competitions. Club football is the most efficient and fair.

I believe people running FIFA have no clue on how to assign quotas and they keep on experimenting to see what works, and sadly in the process they end up destroying the game we love so much. Lastly we can criticise them all we want, but this is the reality and sadly we need to accept it and move on because they won’t bend their ego and do what’s right for this sport.

The problem is that the officials are well aware of what they are doing. They sell quotas for guaranteed votes in the next "elections" in FIFA, this organization is completely riddled with corruption. I hope the Superleague will be created and the business will destroy all these delusional monstrous ideas of officials.

[Oneandpure]

I believe people running FIFA have no clue on how to assign quotas and they keep on experimenting to see what works, and sadly in the process they end up destroying the game we love so much. Lastly we can criticise them all we want, but this is the reality and sadly we need to accept it and move on because they won’t bend their ego and do what’s right for this sport.

Every one is going with his own statement and view but remember few things even Africa and Asia are biggest in population but sadly in quality these both are much behind UEFA because of their own sacks but in Europe we have much higher quality in soccer, so they deserve this all on other side in African many players are now slipping into Europe for better future and Asia is still had no good structure.

About CONMEBOL, they are also having some better quality, but they are OK with current number of teams. Right now Asia need to improve quality for having some better number, but it's not easy for them and European dominance is unchallengeable for all others in quality.

I don't think population determines how many slots each continent gets from Africa, Asia Europe to the CONMEBOL zone. Although currently the European zone is the continent with the highest number of slots in each edition of the world cup. Maybe that is calculated from the FIFA rankings and considering that the European zone is a country that has a better ranking compared to several other continents. However, this time's world cup feels a little different at the event in Qatar even though the organizers are ready, but the covid pandemic is still not over, whether this time's world cup event can be with spectators or matches without spectators.

[alegotardo]

Every one is going with his own statement and view but remember few things even Africa and Asia are biggest in population but sadly in quality these both are much behind UEFA because of their own sacks but in Europe we have much higher quality in soccer, so they deserve this all on other side in African many players are now slipping into Europe for better future and Asia is still had no good structure.

About CONMEBOL, they are also having some better quality, but they are OK with current number of teams. Right now Asia need to improve quality for having some better number, but it's not easy for them and European dominance is unchallengeable for all others in quality.

You say Europe has the best football, I agree, but I ask you: In the best European teams, what percentage of players are really from Europe?
When we refer to the FIFA World Cup, we must remember that it is played by the teams of each country and their native players, Europe is not so much better than other teams in the world looking at this scenario.

[Sithara007]

Now Africa will have 9.5 quotas (one quota over 9 will be played in play-offs, that is, in fact, Africa can get 10 quotas), and UEFA only 16 - what kind of nonsense is this? The 17th and 18th European teams that could go to the World Cup will tear any team from Africa, but they will sit at home since there will be 9 (or 10 African teams) at the championship. Damn FIFA continues its corrupt games and I'm more and more thinking that we should just ignore these outdated miserable competitions. Club football is the most efficient and fair.

Can't put it any better than this. Let's check the FIFA rankings. The 9th placed team from CAF is Mali, while the 10th placed team is Ivory Coast. Now coming to FIFA, the 17th and 18th placed teams are Austria and Czech Republic respectively. Russia is at 19th place, followed by Turkey. Norway at 23rd, Greece at 28th and Iceland at 31st position respectively. Imagine players like Erling Håland missing the world cup. FIFA quotas make no sense. They want to spread the game and that is fine with me. But they can't chose weaker teams over strong ones.

[joker_josue]

Can't put it any better than this. Let's check the FIFA rankings. The 9th placed team from CAF is Mali, while the 10th placed team is Ivory Coast. Now coming to FIFA, the 17th and 18th placed teams are Austria and Czech Republic respectively. Russia is at 19th place, followed by Turkey. Norway at 23rd, Greece at 28th and Iceland at 31st position respectively. Imagine players like Erling Håland missing the world cup. FIFA quotas make no sense. They want to spread the game and that is fine with me. But they can't chose weaker teams over strong ones.

I don't know where you saw this ranking, but in the official FIFA world rankings, the first African team to appear is Senegal in 20th place.
https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/men?dateId=id13505

You cannot compare the ranking by federation. The ranking between continents must be based on the world ranking.

The FIFA ranking is based on the games that teams have played in the last 12 months and their results. That is, if a strong team has had many draws, it loses places against others that are theoretically weaker, but achieve better results. For example Italy was the champion of the Euro, but the first place is Belgium.

[RaltcoinsB]

Now Africa will have 9.5 quotas (one quota over 9 will be played in play-offs, that is, in fact, Africa can get 10 quotas), and UEFA only 16 - what kind of nonsense is this? The 17th and 18th European teams that could go to the World Cup will tear any team from Africa, but they will sit at home since there will be 9 (or 10 African teams) at the championship. Damn FIFA continues its corrupt games and I'm more and more thinking that we should just ignore these outdated miserable competitions. Club football is the most efficient and fair.

Can't put it any better than this. Let's check the FIFA rankings. The 9th placed team from CAF is Mali, while the 10th placed team is Ivory Coast. Now coming to FIFA, the 17th and 18th placed teams are Austria and Czech Republic respectively. Russia is at 19th place, followed by Turkey. Norway at 23rd, Greece at 28th and Iceland at 31st position respectively. Imagine players like Erling Håland missing the world cup. FIFA quotas make no sense. They want to spread the game and that is fine with me. But they can't chose weaker teams over strong ones.

Continental participation in the world cup is There are very good teams in Europe, but the number of teams that can participate in the tournament is limited. For example, only someone from Portugal or Italy will attend. Also Turkey is a not bad team. Likewise, Norway should be the tournament. But unluckily, the number of countries sent by European countries to the tournament is small. But this is a world cup and it's fairer to be like that.

[KTChampions]

Can't put it any better than this. Let's check the FIFA rankings. The 9th placed team from CAF is Mali, while the 10th placed team is Ivory Coast. Now coming to FIFA, the 17th and 18th placed teams are Austria and Czech Republic respectively. Russia is at 19th place, followed by Turkey. Norway at 23rd, Greece at 28th and Iceland at 31st position respectively. Imagine players like Erling Håland missing the world cup. FIFA quotas make no sense. They want to spread the game and that is fine with me. But they can't chose weaker teams over strong ones.

I don't know where you saw this ranking, but in the official FIFA world rankings, the first African team to appear is Senegal in 20th place.
https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/men?dateId=id13505

You cannot compare the ranking by federation. The ranking between continents must be based on the world ranking.

The FIFA ranking is based on the games that teams have played in the last 12 months and their results. That is, if a strong team has had many draws, it loses places against others that are theoretically weaker, but achieve better results. For example Italy was the champion of the Euro, but the first place is Belgium.

I think everyone understands perfectly well without any mathematical calculations and ratings that the European teams from the seventeenth onwards are head and shoulders above any African team from the ninth. And I think that they are stronger than even the top African teams, so this unfair distribution of quotas raises many questions.

[joker_josue]

I think everyone understands perfectly well without any mathematical calculations and ratings that the European teams from the seventeenth onwards are head and shoulders above any African team from the ninth. And I think that they are stronger than even the top African teams, so this unfair distribution of quotas raises many questions.

It may even be unfair, but looking at football realities, it is difficult to find a solution.
But in your opinion, how should the places for the World Cup be distributed?

[wxa7115]

Every one is going with his own statement and view but remember few things even Africa and Asia are biggest in population but sadly in quality these both are much behind UEFA because of their own sacks but in Europe we have much higher quality in soccer, so they deserve this all on other side in African many players are now slipping into Europe for better future and Asia is still had no good structure.

About CONMEBOL, they are also having some better quality, but they are OK with current number of teams. Right now Asia need to improve quality for having some better number, but it's not easy for them and European dominance is unchallengeable for all others in quality.

You say Europe has the best football, I agree, but I ask you: In the best European teams, what percentage of players are really from Europe?
When we refer to the FIFA World Cup, we must remember that it is played by the teams of each country and their native players, Europe is not so much better than other teams in the world looking at this scenario.

Europe is by far the strongest continent when it comes to soccer, we only need to take a look at how many World Cups each confederation has won, South America has 9 World Cups, while Europe has 12, even if the distance between the confederations has gone down there is little doubt that Europe and South America are way above the rest.

And this is not only an issue of infrastructure, soccer is the most popular sport around the world but it is especially big in Europe and South America, so it is not really a surprise the best clubs and national teams come from there.

[Sithara007]

It may even be unfair, but looking at football realities, it is difficult to find a solution.
But in your opinion, how should the places for the World Cup be distributed?

I would rather distribute the spots this way:

AFC: 7
CAF: 7
CONCACAF: 6
CONMEBOL: 8
OFC: 1
UEFA: 19

Intercontinental playoffs are a joke, so I would just ignore them.

From the official FIFA quota, I have reduced two slots for CAF, one for AFC. Increased two for CONMEBOL and three for UEFA. I guess this formula will make sure that the strongest teams figure in the tournament. Else FIFA need to expand the tournament from 48 teams to 64. So instead of 16 groups of 3 teams, we will be having 16 groups of 4 teams.

[joker_josue]

AFC: 7
CAF: 7
CONCACAF: 6
CONMEBOL: 8
OFC: 1
UEFA: 19

So, in this scenario, you are giving more vacancies to European countries - UEFA.
The guys think it's unfair to have so many European countries in the tournament. This option does not resolve this issue.

I find your division even interesting and balanced. Now, I'd like to hear other ideas.

[coco23]

From the official FIFA quota, I have reduced two slots for CAF, one for AFC. Increased two for CONMEBOL and three for UEFA. I guess this formula will make sure that the strongest teams figure in the tournament. Else FIFA need to expand the tournament from 48 teams to 64. So instead of 16 groups of 3 teams, we will be having 16 groups of 4 teams.

I hope they will decide against such a solution. It would just add more weaker teams and make the first round a joke. In a World Cup I want to see quality games of strong teams. The qualification to such an event should already be a huge reward to any weaker team. Also I'd prefer groups of 4 in the first round.

As for the problem of how many teams qualify from each continent, there should be an objective score deciding this, factoring in past performances. I agre having inter-continental play-offs is the wrong way to that.

[joker_josue]

As for the problem of how many teams qualify from each continent, there should be an objective score deciding this, factoring in past performances. I agre having inter-continental play-offs is the wrong way to that.

Normally, the ranking of the countries of each federation is used to define the quotas. In recent years they have not made major changes to the quotas, with changes planned for the next World Cup in 2026.