2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)

International football competition

The North, Central American and Caribbean section of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification^[1] acted as the qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Qatar, for national teams which are members of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF). Three direct slots and one inter-confederation play-off slot in the final tournament were available for CONCACAF teams.^[2]

Format

Original format

On 10 July 2019, CONCACAF announced a restructured qualifying format for the World Cup.^[3] After CONCACAF initially announced in March 2018 that they would use the CONCACAF Ranking Index to determine the seeding of CONCACAF teams for qualifying to international tournaments,^[4] it was determined that FIFA Rankings would be used instead.

• Top-seeded Hexagonal group: The top 6 ranked CONCACAF teams based on the FIFA rankings of June 2020 were to play home-and-away round-robin matches in one single group (often referred to as the "Hexagonal"). The top three teams would have qualified for the World Cup, and the fourth-placed team would have advanced to the CONCACAF play-off round.
• Lower-seeded group stage and knockout stage: The remaining CONCACAF teams (ranked 7 to 35 based on the FIFA rankings of June 2020) were to be divided into eight groups (five groups of four teams and three groups of three teams) to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The winners of each group would have advanced to a knockout stage, consisting of the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final to be played in a two-legged home-and-away series. The winner of the knockout stage would have also advanced to the CONCACAF play-off round.
• Play-off round: The fourth-placed team of the Hexagonal group would have faced the winner of the knockout stage in order to advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.

However, on 25 June 2020, following FIFA's decision to postpone the September 2020 international window because of the COVID-19 pandemic, CONCACAF noted that "the challenges presented by postponements to the football calendar, and the incomplete FIFA rankings cycle in our confederation, means our current World Cup qualifying process has been compromised and will be changed."^[6]

New format

On 27 July 2020, CONCACAF announced a new qualifying format for the World Cup.^[7]

• First round: 30 CONCACAF teams, ranked 6 to 35 based on the FIFA rankings of July 2020, were drawn into six groups of five and played single round-robin matches (two home and two away), with group winners qualifying for the second round.
• Second round: Six first round group winners played in a two-legged home-and-away series. The three winners advanced to the third round.
• Third round: Eight teams, three second round winners and top five CONCACAF teams based on those FIFA rankings, played home-and-away round-robin matches in one single group. The top three teams qualified for the World Cup, and the fourth-placed team advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.

Entrants

All 35 FIFA-affiliated national teams from CONCACAF originally entered qualification. Teams were seeded based on their July 2020 FIFA rankings. However, Saint Lucia later withdrew, reducing the total number of teams to 34.

^W Later withdrew

Schedule

On 25 June 2020, FIFA announced that the inter-confederation play-offs, originally scheduled to be played in March 2022, were moved to June 2022, and that the June 2021 window would be extended from two matchdays to four for CONCACAF.^[9] On 8 September 2020, CONCACAF announced that the matches scheduled for October and November 2020 would be rescheduled to 2021.^[10] On 4 December 2020, FIFA announced that the September 2021, October 2021, January 2022 and March 2022 windows in the FIFA International Match Calendar would each be extended by one day to allow for three matchdays to be played per window.^[11][12] On the same day, CONCACAF announced the revised qualification schedule, which was updated on 16 June 2021.^[13]

First round

The six highest ranked teams of the first round were pre-seeded into groups A through F. Teams in their groups played each other once, a total of four matches; two home and two away matches. The draw for the first round was held on 19 August 2020, 19:00 CEST (UTC+2), at the FIFA headquarters in Zürich.^[14][15] The top team from each group advanced to the second round. The COVID-19 pandemic caused many "home" games to be played at neutral venues.

Group A

Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group B

Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group C

Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group D

Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group E

Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group F

Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Second round

The second round saw the six group winners from the first round playing in three home-and-away ties of predetermined pairings. The winners advanced to the third round.

Third round

As a result of CONCACAF's revision to their World Cup qualifying format, the traditional Hexagonal with six teams and ten games per team was expanded to eight teams and fourteen games per team for the final and decisive round. The top five CONCACAF teams in the July 2020 FIFA rankings entered in the third round, joining the three winners of the second round. The draw to determine the schedule for the third round was held on 19 August 2020, 19:00 CEST (UTC+2), at the FIFA headquarters in Zürich.^[16][17]

Source: FIFA, CONCACAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Inter-confederation play-off

The inter-confederation play-off was determined by a draw held on 26 November 2021. The fourth-placed team from CONCACAF third round was drawn against the representative team from the OFC.^[18] The play-off was played as a single match in Qatar on 14 June 2022.^[19]

Qualified teams

The following four teams from CONCACAF qualified for the final tournament.

¹ Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Top goalscorers

There were 345 goals scored in 118 matches, for an average of 2.92 goals per match.

13 goals

• Cyle Larin

9 goals

• Jonathan David

8 goals

• David Rugamas

7 goals

• Cecilio Waterman

6 goals

• Nigel Hasselbaink

5 goals

• Lucas Cavallini
• Alphonso Davies
• Lyle Taylor
• Gabriel Torres
• Christian Pulisic

4 goals

• Duckens Nazon
• Rolando Blackburn
• Ricardo Rivera
• Keithroy Freeman

Links to the lists of goalscorers for each round are below:

• First round
• Second round
• Third round

References

1. Also the "CONCACAF Qualifiers Road to Qatar".
2. "Current allocation of FIFA World Cup confederation slots maintained". FIFA.com. FIFA. 30 May 2015. Archived from the original on 30 May 2015.
3. "Concacaf Announces Format for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Confederation Qualifiers". Concacaf. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
4. "Concacaf Nations League". Concacaf. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
5. "INTERNATIONAL MATCH CALENDAR 2018–2024" (PDF). FIFA. April 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
6. "CONCACAF confirms 2022 World Cup qualifying will change". TSN. Canadian Press. 25 June 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
7. "New Concacaf Qualifiers announced for regional qualification to FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022". Concacaf. 27 July 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
8. "FIFA Men's Ranking – July 2020 (CONCACAF)". FIFA.com. 16 July 2020. Archived from the original on 16 July 2020.
9. "FIFA Council unanimously approves COVID-19 Relief Plan". FIFA.com. 25 June 2020.
10. "Update on the CONCACAF Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022". CONCACAF. 8 September 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
11. "FIFA Council passes landmark reforms for female players and coaches, agrees further steps in COVID-19 response". FIFA. 4 December 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
12. "Men's International Match Calendar 2020-2024" (PDF). FIFA. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 January 2021. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
13. "Concacaf Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2022". FIFA. 16 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
14. "Concacaf preliminary draw for FIFA World Cup 2022 to take place on 19 August". FIFA.com. 12 August 2020.
15. "Draw procedures confirmed for First Round of Concacaf Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022". CONCACAF.com. 12 August 2020.
16. "Concacaf preliminary draw for FIFA World Cup 2022 to take place on 19 August". FIFA.com. 12 August 2020.
17. "Draw to determine schedule for Final Round of Concacaf Qualifiers to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022". CONCACAF.com. 12 August 2020.
18. "European and intercontinental play-off draw results and reaction". FIFA. 26 November 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
19. Allen, William (26 November 2021). "2022 World Cup inter-confederation play-off draw: fixtures and format". as.com. Retrieved 30 November 2021.

External links

• Official FIFA World Cup website
• Qualifiers – North, Central America and Caribbean, FIFA.com
• Men's World Cup Qualifying, CONCACAF.com