World Cup qualifiers: What to look out for on Monday and Tuesday 🔎 | OneFootball

Nine nations have already booked their place at next year’s World Cup but there is still plenty to play for as the last international break of 2021 concludes this week.

Here’s the lowdown …

Who has already qualified?

UEFA will be the most represented federation in Qatar with 13 European nations allocated a spot. The 10 group winners qualify automatically, with the other three places decided by a play-off featuring the 10 runners-up and the two best-ranked group winners from the Nations League who finished third or below.

CONMEBOL (South America) get four guaranteed places while CONCACAF (North America) get three, with a team from both confederations featuring in a play-off to determine the final spot.

CAF (Africa) gets five spots and AFC (Asia) get four – all of which are currently still to be decided. An additional inter-continental play-off will decide whether another team from Asia or a team from Oceania gets the final spot.

When are the play-offs?

The play-offs will take place between the 24 and 29 March 2022, with a draw to be made on 26 November 2021.

In Europe, the six best runners-up will be seeded and will play at home in the one-legged play-off semi-finals. The other six unseeded teams will play away, and those 12 teams will be drawn into three play-off paths for one-off semi-finals and a final, with the three path winners then qualifying for the tournament in Qatar.

What to look out for on Monday and Tuesday

After blowing a 2-0 lead in the dying minutes against Montenegro on Saturday, the Netherlands face a showdown with Erling Haaland’s Norway on Tuesday night.

Norway will finish above the Dutch if they win in Rotterdam, while Turkey could also still finish top of Group G and qualify automatically if they beat Montenegro.

We are also set for an interesting climax in Group C on Monday, where Italy (away to Northern Ireland) and Switzerland (home to Bulgaria) are level on 15 points.

Italy currently lead the Swiss on overall goal difference but if the two teams finished level on goal difference and goals scored, the Azzurri would be consigned to the play-offs, and we all know what happened to them in that scenario four years ago.

England, meanwhile, just need to avoid defeat to San Marino on Monday and they will seal their passage to Qatar.

Qualification in the other federations around the world will not be decided until the early part of next year.