This will be the draw for the Qatar World Cup groups: pots and classified teams

Adidas 'Al Rihla' ball for the Qatar 2022 World Cup. MOHAMED ALI ABDELWAHID / ADIDAS (Europa Press)

Although there are still three places to be defined, the 2022 Qatar World Cup will start this Friday, with the championship draw at the Doha Exhibition and Congress Center (6:00 p.m., TVE).

With world champions such as the Brazilian Cafú (1994 and 2002) and the German Lothar Matthäus (1990) as innocent hands —they will be accompanied, among other distinguished names in football, by the Nigerian Jay-Jay Okocha, the Serbian coach Bora Milutinovic and the Algerian Rabah Madjer—, everything is ready for the balls to pass sentence, for the ball to roll from November 21 to December 18 of this year.

The 32 teams will be divided into four pots of eight teams, following sporting criteria and ranking classification, with the exception of host Qatar, who will also be seeded.

The same happens with Spain, seventh in the FIFA ranking, which will be seeded, a condition that it recovers after losing it four years ago for the first time since 1994.

One of the conditions of this Friday's draw is that two teams from the same confederation do not coincide in the same group, something that has a forced exception with the 13 European places.

Five of the eight groups will feature two UEFA teams, while each of the other three will feature another.

Three places pending play-offs

The draw will be held with three gaps to fill, three places pending their respective playoffs, scheduled for June.

The first beats a team from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) against another from Conmebol —Arab Emirates against Australia—, and the winner will meet Peru;

the second will face a Concacaf team against another from the OFC (Oceania) —Costa Rica and New Zealand—;

and the last one is the remaining square is European.

A delay that is understood because Ukraine, in the middle of the Russian invasion, cannot travel or train, for which it requested to delay the tie with the acquiescence of the rest of the federations.

Ukraine will face Scotland in mid-June and the winner will face Wales, who have already beaten Austria in the semi-final of this play-off.

205 selections started the way to win the 31 passes available because Qatar already had theirs as organizer.

The last two to achieve them were Mexico and the United States, but with a different flavor.

The former beat El Salvador (2-0) at the Azteca and, despite criticism of the coach, Tata Martino, they finished the classification without conceding a goal in the last five games.

The United States fell in the closing in Costa Rica (2-0), but returns to a World Cup, after its absence in 2018, thanks to the goal difference.

They tied on points with the Ticos, who are still in the running and unleashed after winning five of their last six appearances and drawing the other on Mexican soil.

The group stage of the World Cup will last 12 days in which four games will be played per day and the tournament will end in 28 days, unlike the usual 32.

But there will be some notorious absences.

Italy, the last European champion, heads the list of fiascoes, which also have names of their own.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's Sweden fell in the playoff against Poland and Norway will not show Erling Haaland in the great Qatari event.

Ryad Mahrez will not shine with Algeria and Mohammed Salah will not have revenge for his tepid participation in the last World Cup because Egypt lost on penalties in their match against Senegal.

His coach, Carlos Queiroz, has already said goodbye.

The former coach of Real Madrid had started the road to Qatar at the head of Colombia,

but after two convincing defeats against Uruguay (0-3) and Ecuador (6-1) he packed his bags and ended up in North Africa.

The Colombians did not finish rising and are left out after acting as entertainers in the last two World Cups.

Nor did Chile achieve the pass and chain two blank appointments.

These are the drums

Pot 1

Qatar, Brazil, Belgium, France, Argentina, England, Spain and Portugal.

Pot 2

: Mexico, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, USA, Uruguay, Switzerland and Croatia.

Pot 3

Senegal, Iran, Japan, Morocco, Serbia, Poland, South Korea and Tunisia.

Pot 4

: Canada, Cameroon, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Ghana.

Also, New Zealand or Costa Rica;

Peru or the winner between Australia and the United Arab Emirates;

and Wales or the winner between Ukraine and Scotland.

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