World Cup 2022: Teams that have qualified as South Korea secures 10th successive ticket

• As at Wednesday, February 2, a total of 14 nations have secured their place at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar
• In the latest round of qualifying, South Korea secured their 10 World Cup ticket in a row, while Colombia suffered a setback after defeat to Argentina
• In Africa, there is going to be a showdown of continental giants like Egypt, Nigeria and Ghana, who will all battle it out for a place via playoffs

This year’s edition of the World Cup will be a bit different from other past tournaments for several reasons.

While teams competing in the finals in Qatar still remains at 32, the tournament will be held in the middle of league campaigns in November and December.

This will be the last World Cup that will feature 32 teams as from the next edition, a mammoth 48 teams will be participating in the the the biggest single-sport event on the planet.

Notably, the 2026 edition will be hosted by the North American triumvirate of the United States, Mexico and Canada.

For now, however, focus is on the Qatar spectacle, and participants in the tournament are slowly taking shape as we draw closer to November 2022.

Colombia suffers setback in qualification

The latest on World Cup qualification took place on Tuesday, February 1, when Colombia suffered a major set back in their quest for qualification after suffering a 1-0 defeat to Argentina in South America qualifying.

As reported by Daily Mail, Lautaro Martinez scored the only goal of the match in Cordoba after being left alone in the box by two Colombia defenders.

Argentina, who are on an impressive unbeaten run, already secured their place in Qatar alongside Brazil, but Colombia, who are seventh in their group with 17 points, are in danger of missing out.

Who has qualified for Qatar 2022?

Ahead of the March international break, Sportsbrief.com takes a look at the teams that have already secured their tickets to Qatar, and what needs to happen for others across the world.

Spot 1: Host Nation

Qatar

UEFA (Europe): 13 Spots

Germany

Denmark

France

Belgium

Croatia

Spain

Serbia

England

Switzerland

Netherlands

In Europe, only three slots remain and they will be decided via a grueling playoff which will feature a semi-final and a final.

One subplot of these playoffs is the fact that either Italy or Portugal will miss out on the World Cup as they were placed in the same path.

AFC (Asia): 4.5 spots

Iran

South Korea

South Korea became the latest to claim their place in Qatar as they claimed a 10th successive qualification following a 2-0 win against Syria on Tuesday, February 1.

At least two spots in Asia are yet to be claimed, with a third spot set to be decided via an intercontinental play off.

CAF (Africa): 5 spots

No African team has secured qualification for Qatar as of yet, although fans can look forward to an engaging fight for a place in the spectacle via a playoff which will feature:

Egypt or Senegal

Cameroon or Algeria

Ghana or Nigeria

DR Congo or Morocco

Mali or Tunisia

Other slots

Other slots for a place in the World Cup include via the CONCACAF (NORTH AMERICA), with only three places available for this region.

Source: SportsBrief.com