The Confederation of North, Central American, and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) qualifies its member countries for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2022 through the North, Central American, and Caribbean portion of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying (CONCACAF). For CONCACAF teams, there are three direct spots and one inter-confederation play-off spot in the final tournament.

In Its Original Form

CONCACAF unveiled a new World Cup qualification system on July 10th, 2019. Following a CONCACAF announcement in March 2018 that they will utilize the CONCACAF Ranking Index to determine the seeding of CONCACAF teams for international tournament qualification,[3] FIFA Rankings were determined to be used in its place.

Hexagonal Group Ranked First

Teams from CONCACAF’s top six divisions, as determined by FIFA’s June 2020 rankings, were to play home-and-away round-robin matches against each other (often referred to as the “Hexagonal”). Four teams would have qualified for the CONCACAF play-off round: the top three and the fourth-placed team.

Knockout Stage and Lower-seeded Group Stage

Seventy-five clubs from the CONCACAF region (ranked 7-35 by FIFA in June 2020) were to be drawn into eight groups and play home-and-away round-robin matches to determine the champion. As a result of winning their respective groups, each team would have progressed to a knockout stage that would see them play in a two-legged home and away series. There would have been a CONCACAF playoff round for the winner of the knockout round.

The Round of 16 Is the Last Round of the Tournament.

To proceed to the inter-confederation play-offs, the fourth-placed team from the Hexagonal group would have faced the winner of the knockout stage to advance.

Exactly How Many Teams From the Concacaf Region Will Compete?

Canada was the first CONCACAF nation to secure its spot in Qatar with a 4-0 win against Jamaica at home. The United States is presently in the second position in CONCACAF’s eight-team final qualification group, from which three teams will qualify automatically for Qatar 2022.

Process of Qualification

There are 211 FIFA member associations presently eligible to participate in qualifying. As hosts, Qatar was guaranteed a spot in the tournament. Due to this, Qatar had to compete in Asian qualifying, as the first two rounds also counted towards the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification process. As a result of Qatar’s group victory, the fifth-place finishers in their respective groups progressed instead. It will be the first time since the 1930 and 1934 tournaments that the World Cup will be held in a country that has never hosted a finals match in the tournament’s history.

Qualifying continues to be open to all teams, including the defending World Cup champions France. However, Saint Lucia eventually withdrew from the CONCACAF qualification process. [5] Due to worries over the COVID-19 epidemic, North Korea also pulled out of the qualifying round. Withdrew before the OFC zone qualifying draw, as did American Samoa and Samoa; Tonga withdrew following the 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai eruption and tsunami. Vanuatu and Cook Islands also withdrew due to COVID-19 infections in their units.

The FIFA Executive Committee met in Zürich on 30 May 2015 to discuss the allocation of slots for each confederation following the FIFA Congress.

[6] The 2018 and 2022 tournaments will have the same allocation as the 2006, 2010, and 2014 tournaments.

Fifa World Cup 2022 Qualifying Teams