10 Facts about FIFA World Cup Qualifying Process

The qualification process of the World cup is a complex process. It is not yet over for the 2022 Qatar world cup and is span across 6th June 2019 to 22nd September 2022. Here are some facts about the process of qualification into the world cup.

1. The countries that are eligible for the FIFA world cup are the members of the FIFA Association. Currently there are 211 countries in the FIFA members associations.
2. There is a total of 32 slots in the FIFA tournament. The host country will be automatically qualified leaving 31 slots for the countries to fight for.
3. In the FIFA Congress held in Zurich in 30th May 2015, the FIFA Executive Committee decided to allocate slots for each confederation. This was followed in 2006, 2010 and 2014 FIFA world cups. The FIFA has decided to follow the same allocations in 2022 tournament.
4. FIFA have six recognised confederations to supervise football in different regions and continents of the world. They are AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC and UEFA.
5. The AFC is the Asian Football Confederation, a supreme body for football in the territories of Asia and Oceania. Out of the 47 member countries in AFC, 4 or 5 countries can qualify the world cup.
6. The CAF is the Confederation of African Football, a supreme body for football in the African continent. It has 56 member countries in AFC out of which 5 countries can qualify the world cup.
7. The CONCACAF is the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, has 41 member countries. 3 or 4 countries from the CONCACAF can qualify the world cup.
8. The CONMEBOL is the South American Football Confederation. 4 or 5 countries can qualify the world cup out of 10 CONMEBOL member countries.
9. The OFC is the Oceania Football Confederation with 13 member countries. It has 0 or 1 slot in the world cup tournament.
10. The UEFA is the Union of European Football Associations and has 55 members. It has the highest number of slots with 13 in the world cup qualification.