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Kylian Mbappé and his French want to defend the 2018 title
Photo: STEPHANE MAHE / REUTERS
France want to defend their title, Brazil want to win the cup again after 20 years - and what's in it for Hansi Flick's team?
A year before the controversial World Cup in Qatar, most of the major soccer nations successfully completed their qualifying marathon.
But there are also shaky candidates among the big players: European champions Italy and his predecessor Portugal have to make the playoffs.
In Europe, the picture has already cleared up except for the missing three playoff applicants.
On the other continents, they are far from that far.
13 of the 32 World Cup participants have already been determined.
Here is an overview of the current status.
EUROPE (13 starting places)
Ten teams have already been selected from the European qualification:
Germany, England, Spain, Serbia, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Croatia
and
Denmark.
Twelve teams are competing for the three remaining places and will compete in the playoff games in March in six semi-finals and then three finals.
The three winners from the finals will then also be in Qatar.
The twelve teams that will have to watch the semi-final draw on November 26th are: Turkey, North Macedonia, Italy, Portugal, Scotland, Wales, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Austria and the Czech Republic.
SOUTH AMERICA (4 or 5 starting places)
Brazil
and
Argentina
have secured their participation in the World Cup early - four match days before the end of the qualification they can no longer be displaced from the top four places in the table, which in any case qualify for the World Cup.
Ecuador (23 points) and Colombia (17 points) are currently in third and fourth place.
Peru (17), Chile, Uruguay (both 16), Bolivia (15) and Paraguay (13) are on their necks.
Only Venezuela with seven points already seems to have fallen behind.
Qualification will continue in January and will last until the end of March.
The fifth can also have hopes, he will play in a decision-making round for the last World Cup places against a participant from Asia, North and Central America and Oceania.
A total of two World Championship ranks are awarded in this elimination.
ASIA (5 or 6 starting places)
So far, only World Cup host
Qatar has been confirmed
as a participant.
The qualification will be played in two groups until the end of March - as things stand, South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Japan have the best chances of qualifying.
NORTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA (3 or 4 starting places)
Everything is still open here.
After eight games, Canada leads the table in front of the USA.
Mexico is currently in third place, which would also be enough for Qatar.
Panama, however, is level on points with the Mexicans in fourth place.
Here, too, will continue to be played until March.
AFRICA (5 starting places)
The qualification in Africa is still in full swing.
So far, only the group games have been played.
The ten group winners play off the five World Cup participants.
The ten teams that still have a chance at Qatar are: Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, Egypt, Cameroon, Senegal, Morocco and the DR Congo.
OCEANIA (0 or 1 starting place)
Oceania only has the prospect of securing a place for Qatar via the intercontinental playoffs in March against participants from Asia, North and Central America and South America.
The teams from New Zealand and the Solomon Islands currently have the best chances for this.
Aha
