Advertisement

How many countries does each region send to the World Cup?

All the teams who have qualified for the Qatar World Cup. (Getty)
All the teams who have qualified for the Qatar World Cup. (Getty)

The 2022 World Cup only had one country guaranteed to compete, as is usually the case.

Qatar, the host, has had its place safeguarded since October 2010, when the competition was announced.

The other 31 countries compete through the six football confederations, each with its own features and number of places.

Qualifications were also disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with games having to be postponed, as is the case with a number of other planned competitions.

Asia

The AFC was the first confederation to decide its teams heading to the World Cup.

The confederation is entitled to four direct seats, filled by Iran, South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia.

32 teams will compete for the title. (Getty)
32 teams will compete for the title. (Getty)

They technically have two more spots. One is Qatar, the other Australia - which has also been grouped in with Asia as the only qualifier from the Oceania region.

South America

Despite being one of the best regions CONMEBOL (South America) has the same number of spots as Asia.

Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay have all qualified.

North and Central America

CONCACAF (North, Central America and the Caribbean), again has four spots, with Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico and the United States attending.

Europe

Europe has by far the most number of teams attending the World Cup, with 13 in total.

Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland and Wales have all qualified for the tournament.

Africa

Africa has the second highest number of places behind Europe with five.

Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia will all be attending.