How to watch the FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifiers: Wales book place in Qatar
Victory over Ukraine ensured Rob Page's Wales side will compete in their first World Cup since 1958
Wales will face England in the group stages of the FIFA World Cup after becoming the final European country to qualify for the tournament.
The Dragons edged an entertaining play-off final against Ukraine 1-0 to reach the World Cup for the first time since 1958.
Gareth Bale’s first-half free-kick was headed into his own net by Ukraine captain Andriy Yarmolenko and that proved the difference on a wet afternoon in Cardiff.
Wales were fortunate not to concede a penalty shortly after when Yarmolenko went down in the box, but a VAR check ruled in favour of the home side.
The Welsh rode their luck at times in the second half but defended resolutely and had chances to extend their advantage, with Aaron Ramsey putting a glorious chance wide and Brennan Johnson hitting the post late on.
But a single goal proved enough and the final whistle sparked delirious scenes at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Wales join England, USA and Iran in group B of the World Cup, which gets underway on Monday, 21 November. Those four countries will be joined by a further 28 nations at the finals, including Qatar, who qualified automatically as hosts.
The full list of countries who have qualified for the tournament so far is as follows: Germany, Denmark, Brazil, France, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, England, Switzerland, Netherlands, Argentina, Iran, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Canada, Ghana, Senegal, Portugal, Tunisia, Morocoo, Cameroon, USA, Mexico and Wales.
That leaves just two more places up for grabs. The final spot in the Asia and South America region will be decided by mid-June: Australia meet UAE in the semi-final on 7 June, with the winner facing Peru on 13 June. The following day, Costa Rica take on New Zealand for the last qualification place in the North America and Oceania region.
How to watch the FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifiers: Upcoming fixture
June 7: Asia/South America semi-final
- Australia vs UAE
June 13: Asia/South America final
- Australia/UAE vs Peru
June 14: North America/Oceania final
- Costa Rica vs New Zealand
How to watch the FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifiers: World Cup group stage draw
The World Cup group stage draw was made in April and England were drawn in the same group as Wales/Scotland/Ukraine. The full draw is as follows:
- Group A: Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands
- Group B: England, Iran, USA, Wales
- Group C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland
- Group D: France, Australia/UEA/Peru, Denmark, Tunisia
- Group E: Spain, Costa Rica/New Zealand, Germany, Japan
- Group F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia
- Group G: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon
- Group H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea
How do the FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifiers work?
This is fairly broad question because the FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualification process involves teams from all over the world, divided into six confederations. Some confederations have already had a few elimination games, so the remaining 136 teams that still have qualification hopes include:
- 55 European teams (UEFA)
- 12 Asian teams (AFC)
- 40 African teams (CAF)
- 8 North America teams (CONCACAF)
- 10 South America teams (CONMEBOL)
- 11 Oceanic teams (OFC)
While it’s true that each of these confederations have their FIFA World Cup qualification games around the same time, how individual groups are segregated, matches are played and how many qualification places are still up for grabs tend to vary broadly. It’s fair to say that this is a logistically complex operation.
How do the FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifiers for European nations work?
As we explained below, it’s fairly complex to cover FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifiers for absolutely every country. Therefore, for the sake of convenience, we’ll concentrate on the European nations and their path to qualifying for a place in the FIFA World Cup because this is more relevant and much easier to explain.
The 55 European nations competing for a place in the 2022 Qatar World Cup were initially divided into 10 groups. Groups A to E comprised of five teams each, while groups F to J comprised of six groups each. Each teams played the teams in their group twice, home and away.
There are 13 European places up for grabs in the 2022 World Cup. These will be awarded to the winners of each of the 10 groups, with the remaining three places going to sides that win through via the play-offs.
FIFA World Cup 2022 UEFA Qualification Groups
We’ve highlighted the British teams for your convenience.
Group A: Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Serbia, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan
Group B: Spain, Sweden, Greece, Georgia, Kosovo
Group C: Italy, Northern Ireland, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Lithuania
Group D: France, Ukraine, Finland, Kazakhstan, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Group E: Belgium, Wales, Czech Republic, Belarus, Estonia
Group F: Denmark, Scotland, Israel, Austria, Faroe Islands, Moldova
Group G: Turkey, Netherlands, Montenegro, Norway, Latvia, Gibraltar
Group H: Croatia, Russia, Slovakia, Cyprus, Slovenia, Malta
Group I: England, Hungary, Albania, Poland, Andorra, San Marino
Group J: Germany, North Macedonia, Armenia, Romania, Iceland, Liechtenstein
How to watch the FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifiers in the UK: Sky Sports
Sky Sports will be broadcasting all the major FIFA World Cup 2022 qualification games not involving England Now there’s a catch as to what games you can actually watch. While Sky will indeed broadcast almost every game featuring most British and some top European nations, most games will be on the Sky Sports Red Button, which is only available if you’re a Sky TV customer with a Sky Sports package. This package costs £18/mnth over and above your existing Sky TV subscription.
Most other games will be on the main Sky Sports channels, namely Sky Sports Football, Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event. You can watch all the games broadcast on those channels either on Sky TV or by purchasing a Now Sports Membership. Unlike Sky Sports, a Now Sports Membership doesn’t tie you down to any long-term contracts, meaning you can watch for as long as you like for just £33/mnth.
How to watch the FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifiers abroad: use a good VPN service
The only way to watch your favourite teams in the action in the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifiers if you’re abroad on holiday is by using a good VPN service. A VPN basically uses sophisticated code to trick your device into thinking that it’s based anywhere in the world that you want. It also protects your PC by encrypting your entire online connection, so that no one – not your ISP, mobile service provider or hackers – can see what you do online.
There are tons of free and paid-for VPN services but, in our experience, most don’t live up to their tall claims. Thankfully for you, we’ve put the best VPNs to the test to find out which ones actually let you access UK streaming services from abroad. Sadly, only a select few were found to be reliable in all our tests, out of which we highly recommend the below two.
READ NEXT: Best VPNs for privacy and streaming
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Surfshark VPN: Surfhark VPN is a relative newcomer to the VPN space, but it has made immense strides in the short time that it has been around. Its best feature is that a single VPN subscription can be used on unlimited devices, making it a great option for your entire family or even a group of friends. You’ll find its subscription plans one of the cheapest on the market and it still manages to pack in stunning features like a moneyback guarantee and 24/7 customer support.