World Cup 2022: A great opponent is almost certain - Germany facing a difficult group stage?

Participation fixed: Germany will play at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Despite the strong qualification sprint, the DFB selection will not be in the first lottery pot.

Frankfurt - The most important step has been taken: Germany has qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar *.

This fact is inevitable after the 4-0 victory over North Macedonia, the team of national coach Hansi Flick bought the ticket for the Winter World Cup * before the last two qualifying games in November.

The way there was rocky, however.

The DFB rarely shone, especially at the beginning of the qualification, under Joachim Löw the same lethargic patterns crept in over and over again.

Flick breathed new life into the national team and celebrated five wins in a row.

Yes, the opponents were truly not world powers in football and yes, even under Flick * there was definitely room for improvement.

Ultimately, however, there is the successful qualification and the impression of a spirit of optimism.

World Cup 2022: Germany not in the first lottery pot in the group draw in April

The World Cup begins on November 21, 2022. And one thing is already clear: Germany * will face somewhat stronger opponents in the group stage than they did in the qualifying round (Romania, North Macedonia, Armenia, Iceland, Liechtenstein).

The reason: At the draw in April 2022, the four-time world champion will probably not be included in the pot of the best teams according to the current status.

As the German press agency learned from FIFA circles, the world association is planning to use its world rankings again as an essential criterion for the formation of the lottery pots.

Accordingly, next to hosts Qatar, the top seven teams would be in the first pot.

And Germany is currently not represented there.

WM 2022: Pot 1 according to the current status of the world rankings

The coveted places are currently occupied by Belgium, Brazil, England, France, Italy, Argentina and Portugal - all of them potential German opponents.

The only lucky one would be host Qatar, currently in 43rd place in the world rankings and anything but a football nation.

Germany is currently in 14th place - among others, countries like Mexico, Denmark, Uruguay and even the USA are ahead of the DFB selection.

The other three lottery pots were formed in the past either according to regional criteria or, as before the 2018 tournament in Russia, also according to the world rankings.

In this case, Germany would probably be in Pot 2.

Germany at the 2022 World Cup: group with world champion France or European champion Italy possible

It is still unclear which edition of the world rankings should be decisive for the draw. Usually the November rankings were decisive for World Cup tournaments. However, due to the winter tournament in Qatar, the draw is not planned for the end of the year, as usual, but for next April. Should the March rankings then be decisive, teams from South America, Africa and the European playoff participants might have an advantage because they could still collect points in compulsory games in spring 2022.

After qualifying for the World Cup on November 11th against Liechtenstein in Wolfsburg and three days later in Armenia in March 2022, Germany * will only play two test games, which usually result in fewer world ranking points.

After all, a hammer group was caught at the European Championships in the summer of 2021.

Ultimately, they prevailed - albeit not very convincingly - and moved into the second round behind France in second place in front of Portugal and Hungary.

There it was also the final destination against the eventual finalists England.

List of rubric lists: © Sportfoto Rudel / Imago