FIFA, Qatar prepare for unprecedented World Cup finals draw
AP|
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Unprecedented tournament draw
A World Cup like no other in its 92-year history will take shape this week at an unprecedented tournament draw. When FIFA and host nation Qatar stage the draw ceremony show, three of the 32 entries will be placeholders because the three-year qualifying program was delayed and is still ongoing because of the pandemic and the Ukraine war.
AP
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37 nations will be involved
It means 37 nations will be involved, including five which will ultimately not play in November when the first “winter” World Cup kicks off. The show starts at 7 p.m. Friday and lasts one hour.
AP
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Full lineup will not be known now
The full lineup will not be known until at least June 14, when the intercontinental playoff round ends in Qatar. That is 74 days after the draw and the same date the 2018 tournament started in Russia, which was thrown out of the final stages of qualifying this time over the invasion of Ukraine.
AP
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Match backlog
Maybe FIFA got lucky seven years ago by moving the 2022 tournament to November and December to avoid the searing desert heat of Qatar’s summer.The later start created wiggle room to clear the match backlog after the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out almost every national-team game outside Europe in 2020.
Reuters
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The Pot 4 draw
Three playoff entries are delayed to June: The European bracket containing Ukraine, which cannot currently prepare a team, and the two intercontinental playoffs. FIFA weighted those entries downward into pot 4 according to the lowest-ranked potential qualifiers, such as Scotland, New Zealand and the UAE. Higher-ranked playoff teams Peru and Wales face being seeded below their true level. One of the balls being drawn from pot 4 of low-ranked teams will represent “Peru or Australia or the United Arab Emirates.” Another is “Ukraine or Wales or Scotland.”
