Wales World Cup 2022 qualifying group: Everything you need to know about qualification for Qatar
Who is in Wales’ group?
Wales will face Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic and Estonia in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group E.
What are the opposition like?
Belgium and the Czech Republic both qualified for EURO 2020 and both were group winners in the last instalment of the Nations League.
The Red Devils, managed by former Swansea City boss Roberto Martinez, has led Belgium to the last four of the Nations League, following five wins and one defeat.
In the 2018 World Cup, they reached the semi-finals, losing to the eventual winners France, but earned a third-placed finish after beating England.
The Czech Republic qualified for EURO 2020 as the Group A runner-up, before finishing first in their Nations League group with Scotland, Israel and Slovakia.
Wales have never beaten the Czechs, having drawn both in both a friendly and a EURO European Championship qualifier.
A 0-0 draw at the Millennium Stadium, the fixture was Ryan Giggs’ last game for Wales as a player, that fixture is the last time the two have met.
Belarus meanwhile finished second in their Nations League group, which consisted of Albania, Kazakhstan and Lithuania.
Wales last played Belarus in a friendly in September 2019, in which Daniel James scored the winner.
Estonia are a new competitive opponent for Wales. The only previous meetings were friendly victories in 1994 and 2009.
They finished bottom of their Nations League group, failing to win a fixture.
When does qualifying begin?
Qualifying gets under way on either the 24th or 24th March 2021, which means qualification for the next major tournament will overlap with EURO 2022.
How many teams qualify from the group?
Each group winner will qualify directly for the World Cup.
The ten group winners will be joined by two of the best group winners of the 2020/21 UEFA Nations League.
This means should Wales fail to qualify automatically, they will almost certainly earn a playoff spot due to them winning their Nations League group.
The 12 teams will be drawn into three play-off paths for one-off semi-finals and a final. The three path winners qualify for the World Cup.
The winner of each tie will also qualify, meaning 12 European countries qualify in total.
You can follow live updates of the World Cup qualifying draw with our live blog:
(Featured Image: Mike James)
