World Cup qualifier 2022: FIFA is changing the format, kicking a neutral pitch

FIFA emphasizes that the COVID-19 pandemic makes the organization of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers difficult.

One of the most interesting issues at the Games is the 2022 World Cup qualifying schedule. The organizer has postponed it continuously this year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For example, the South American Regional World Cup qualifiers, scheduled to take place in March 2020, have been postponed until October 2020. The CONCACAF regional qualifier may start in September 2020 and must go back to March 2021.

With the 2022 World Cup qualifying in Asia, 6 days of FIFA’s competition has been delayed since the beginning of the year. At the earliest, the matches will restart in March 2021. FIFA President Gianni Infantino is very concerned about the 2022 World Cup qualifying delay.

FIFA discussed with 211 members on issues related to the 2022 World Cup qualifiers

Infantino said emphasizing that FIFA has opened FIFA Days in January 2022 as well as considered expanding the number of competition days, increasing the number of international matches from 2 to 3 to complete the round soon.

Another option considered by FIFA is to hold the 2022 World Cup qualifying in a neutral location instead of the home or away format. The 2022 World Cup in November in Qatar helps FIFA have more time to arrange, compared to the previous World Cup which always took place in June.

FIFA will work closely with the Health Authority to plan the best plans for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers on all continents. For the 2022 World Cup qualifying in Asia, Vietnam and the teams are in phase 2. This stage will likely restart in March 2021 and end in June 2021. Then, the next 12 teams will enter the third qualifying round, competing for 4 direct places to Qatar.

The adoption of a neutral pitch will be appropriate in this 3rd qualifying stage. Because then, the next 12 teams will be divided into 2 groups, 6 teams each. The teams will play a round of 1 round, choosing the top 2 teams in each group to attend the World Cup in Qatar. If kicking in neutral instead of home or away, the time to complete qualifying will be reduced significantly.