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World Cup qualifiers: Wednesday’s scores and stats FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ qualifying resumed on Wednesday World champions France held as UEFA qualifying kicked-off Road to Qatar 2022 also commenced in the Concacaf region with five matches After a long wait 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar™ qualifiers finally kicked-off in the UEFA and Concacaf zones on Wednesday. There were some intriguing scorelines in Europe with France held 1-1 at home by Ukraine, while Turkey outgunned three-time World Cup runners-up Netherlands. There were also important wins for Serbia and Belgium. FIFA.com summarises all the results, action and stand-out statistics. Live coverage of Qatar 2022 qualifiers will resume on Thursday with a lone AFC match and more action from the UEFA and Concacaf regions. UEFA (All m...

How a 31-year-old from Suffolk is transforming the Cayman Islands Cayman Islands head coach Ben Pugh speaks with FIFA.com The former Ipswich Town academy coach talks about his journey He previews his team's upcoming World Cup qualifiers with Suriname and Canada The Cayman Islands have never won a FIFA World Cup™ qualifying match in their entire history. But that could finally be changing in the near future thanks to a 31-year-old from Shotley, a small village outside Ipswich. Ben Pugh took over as the national team head coach and director of coaching for the Cayman Islands Football Association (CIFA) in July 2019. At the time, the team were hovering just over the very bottom of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking in 206th. After six matches in League C in the Concacaf Nations League i...

World Cup qualifying in numbers 2021’s World Cup qualifiers get underway this week Teams in Europe and the Concacaf region kick off their campaigns Facts and figures on the hunt for World Cup places There were many challenges to overcome when organising qualification for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. Yet the battle for FIFA World Cup™ spots has already begun in Asia and South America, while this week marks the start of qualifying for the confederations in Europe (UEFA) and North and Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). FIFA.com takes a look at some figures associated with qualifying for the world’s greatest football tournament. {authorlink}

Revived giants ready to right Russian wrong Italy and the Netherlands failed to reach Russia 2018 Both have bounced back impressively in the years since We look at what's changed ahead of their Qatar 2022 campaigns La Gazzetta dello Sport described it as “the apocalypse” and, in football terms, it wasn’t far short. Italy, four-time champions, had failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™. Staggering in itself, this outcome was made doubly unthinkable by the Netherlands – finalists and bronze-medalists at the previous two editions – also missing out. And it was Sweden –  sturdy, well-drilled but devoid of star players – who had claimed the scalps of these World Cup heavyweights. For Italy, the enduring the image of their play-off defeat was an inconsolable Gianluigi Buff...

Tite: Neymar has become a bow and arrow Tite discusses taking one year off to study coaching He hails Neymar, Kevin De Bruyne and Roberto Mancini’s Italy He explains why facing Argentina is much more than a World Cup qualifier “Surviving for long in a country that has 200 million Seleção coaches is impossible,” summarised Luiz Felipe Scolari of what many deem the most demanding job in football. Surviving under the scorching scrutiny of the gluttonous Brazil fans is, indeed, akin to surviving in the Lut Desert. Winning, to Brazilians, simply isn’t enough. You need to win with immeasurable swagger. Mario Zagallo was A Seleção’s eighth coach in the five years leading up to Mexico 1970. Carlos Alberto Parreira was their fourth appointment in little over a year in 1991. Scolari became t...

Qatar 2022 board meeting held at FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2020™  The most recent board meeting of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LLC (Q22) was held on Thursday, 11 February, prior to the FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2020™ final between Bayern Munich and Tigres UANL at Education City Stadium. It was held via videoconference due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The board reviewed key achievements and looked ahead to upcoming events and milestones, including the final four stadium inaugurations and the FIFA Arab Cup™, which will be held in Qatar at the end of 2021. HE Hassan Al Thawadi, Q22 Chairman and Secretary General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, said: “It was a pleasure to engage with colleagues during the FIFA Club World Cup – the latest top-level football event...

The board of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LLC (Q22) met today, just three days before the inauguration of another FIFA World Cup™ stadium, the Al Rayyan venue, which will host the Amir Cup final on Qatar National Day.  The meeting, which was held via video call due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, reviewed key achievements while looking forward to upcoming milestones, including stadium inaugurations, the FIFA Club World Cup 2020™, which will take place in February 2021, and the FIFA Arab Cup, which will be held in December next year.  H.E. Hassan Al Thawadi, Q22 Chairman and Secretary General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), said: “Despite the enormous challenges presented by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, major strides have continued to be made during 2020 in...

Mohamed Aboutrika is one of Africa's best-ever players He is an ambassador for Qatar 2022's Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy The Egypt legend believes the tournament will wow the world Mohamed Aboutrika – widely recognised as one of Africa’s greatest-ever players – has hailed the significance of the first FIFA World Cup™ to be held in the Middle East and Arab world. Speaking exclusively to qatar2022.qa from Al Rayyan Venue – which will be inaugurated on 18 December when it hosts the Amir Cup final – Aboutrika said: “Hosting the first World Cup in this part of the world provides a much-needed opportunity to change many of the negative perceptions that people have about this region. “Having the World Cup here in Qatar will prove to the world that we are able to organise a m...

Road to Qatar 2022 confirmed in Europe High-profile coaches react to draw Ten groups drawn two years ahead of tournament In two years’ time, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ will be in full swing. The Round of 16 will just have been played, with everyone looking forward to the quarter-finals. Before we get down to those last eight teams however, we need to establish which 32 will make it through to Qatar in the first place. In Europe, 13 spots are up for grabs via the qualifiers, which will be held between March 2021 and March 2022. The draw for the UEFA preliminary competition took place in Zurich on Monday, with Daniele De Rossi and Rafael van der Vaart on hand to oversee proceedings. The draw took place behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a number of coaches and pl...

Groups confirmed for UEFA on road to Qatar 2022 Holders France to play Ukraine, Finland and Bosnia and Herzegovina in Group D Draw conducted as a virtual event in Zurich and was streamed live The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ feels closer for Europe today. After the UEFA preliminary draw took place as a virtual event in Zurich, all 55 teams learned their groups on the road to Qatar 2022. Reigning World Cup champions France will face Ukraine, Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kazakhstan in Group D, while some other standout matches include Italy and neighbours Switzerland, England and Poland, Netherlands and Turkey, and Iceland and Germany. Draw results: All teams within a group will play each other twice in a home-and-away format between March 2020 and November 2021. The ten group wi...