FIFA have announced the teams’ allocations into pots ahead of the draw for the UEFA group phase of qualifiers for the 2022 Men’s World Cup. The draw is due to be held at 17:00 UTC on MON 07 DEC 2020 in Zürich, Switzerland.

The pots are based on the November edition of the FIFA men’s rankings, which see Belgium at the top of the table, followed by 2018 champions France. England, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands are also in the first pot.

Each of the ten groups will have one team from pots 1-5. Groups F-J will also have a team from pot 6.

The four teams that advanced to the elimination phase of the UEFA Men’s Nations League – Belgium, France, Italy, and Spain – will be placed in one of the five team groups [A-E] so that they may play in the Men’s Nations League elimination phase in OCT 2021.

The group phase will be played in MAR-NOV 2021. The first placed team in each group qualifies for Qatar 2022. The second placed team in each group advances to the playoffs, along with the two highest ranked group winners from the Men’s Nations League that did not finish in the top two of their qualifying groups.

• Pot 1: Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain
• Pot 2: Austria, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Wales
• Pot 3: Czech Rep, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland Rep, Northern Ireland, Norway, Russia, Scotland
• Pot 4: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Israel, Luxembourg, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Slovenia
• Pot 5: Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Estonia, Faroe Is, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania
• Pot 6: Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, Malta, Moldova, San Marino