2022 FIFA World Cup Wikipedia

Sixty matches will take place in the US, including all matches from the quarter-finals onward, while Canada and Mexico will host 10 games each. The national football association of a country desiring to host the event receives a "Hosting Agreement" from FIFA, which explains the steps and requirements that are expected from a strong bid. The bidding association also receives a form, the submission of which represents the official confirmation of the candidacy. After this, a FIFA designated group of inspectors visit the country to identify that the country meets the requirements needed to host the event and a report on the country is produced. The decision on who will host the World Cup is usually made six or seven years in advance of the tournament. On 27 February 2022, FIFA announced a number of sanctions impacting Russia's participation in international football.

Canada returned after 36 years, their only prior appearance being in 1986. Wales made their first appearance in 64 years – a record gap for a European team, their only previous participation having been in 1958. With five titles, Brazil are the most successful World Cup team and also the only nation to have played in every World Cup to date.

The reigning World Cup champions France also went through qualifying stages as normal. Saint Lucia initially entered qualification but withdrew from it before their first match. North Korea withdrew from the qualifying round due to safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tonga withdrew after the 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai eruption and tsunami.

Russia was prohibited from hosting international competitions, and the national team had been ordered to play all home matches behind closed doors in neutral countries. The next day, however, FIFA decided to suspend Russia from international competitions "until further notice", including its participation in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. On 9 December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency handed Russia a four-year ban from all major sporting events, after RUSADA was found non-compliant for handing over manipulated lab data to investigators. The Russian national team were still permitted to enter qualification, as the ban only applied to the final tournament to decide the world champions.

Given that there were half a million Indian workers in Qatar, the Indian government said that was quite a normal number of deaths. In the knockout stage, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time is played and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners. For the draw, the 32 teams were allocated into four pots based on the FIFA Men's World Rankings of 31 March 2022. Pot two contained the next best eight teams, with the next best eight teams into pot 3.

Qatar, the current World Cup host, has confirmed eight possible venues for the 2022 tournament. The 32 teams who will compete in the 2022 World Cup will be divided into eight groups of four teams each. Tim Cahill has tipped Australia to spring some surprise World Cup selections as he urged the Socceroos to adopt a fearless mentality for the finals.