Qatar 2022: CONCACAF revises qualifying format

Bengaluru, July 28: The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) has announced a revised qualification format for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup, with the final round from the region expanded to eight teams after the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) forced a rejig of the existing format comprising six teams.

The new format, which will feature all 35 of the region's members, has been split into three rounds with the first being played in October and November with teams ranked from No. 6 to No. 35 in CONCACAF as of July 16 drawn into six groups of five.

The second round, to be played in March 2021, will feature the six group winners from the first phase playing against each other in pre-drawn match-ups to determine which three teams advance to the third and final round.

Nuevo Formato para la Clasificatoria de Concacaf a la @FIFAWorldCup Catar 2022

Detalles 👉 https://t.co/3X0tu9MFnF#LoveForOurGame pic.twitter.com/ixOYHkKm0w

— Concacaf (@Concacaf) July 27, 2020

The second-round winners will join the top-five sides in the CONCACAF rankings - Mexico, the United States, Costa Rica, Jamaica and Honduras - in the eight-team final round where each team plays 14 matches, home and away, against the other seven.

The top three teams from the final round, which will begin in June 2021, will qualify for the World Cup while the fourth-placed team will face an Intercontinental Play-off in June 2022.

CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani said the new format has some fail-safes built in it, including rescheduling certain FIFA international match windows, should any novel coronavirus-related hurdles surface.

"There're some mechanisms built in where we can pivot if we need to. But if 2021 starts mimicking 2020 well then I think it's not just CONCACAF that has to go back to the drawing board, but the entire football world," Montagliano told a video conference, while adding that the new format offered greater opportunity for World Cup qualification to teams in the region.

Under the usual format for CONCACAF'S final round of World Cup qualifying, known as the Hex, the top six countries in the region's rankings battled for three World Cup places while the fourth-placed team advanced to a play-off.

The format was revised after the coronavirus pandemic forced cancellation of several FIFA international windows, making CONCACAF's previous qualification plans unworkable.

(With inputs from Agencies)