2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)
The South American section of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification acts as qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Qatar, for national teams which are members of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL). A total of 4.5 slots (4 direct slots and 1 inter-confederation play-off slot) in the final tournament are available for CONMEBOL teams.[1]
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 8 October 2020 – 29 March 2022 |
| Teams | 10 (from 1 confederation) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 20 |
| Goals scored | 67 (3.35 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Arturo Vidal Ángel Romero Luis Suárez(4 goals each) |
| Qualification for championships (CONMEBOL) |
|---|
The qualification process began on 8 October 2020. Uruguay's Luis Suárez scored the first goal of the round-robin. This was a record as it was the third time Suárez had scored the opening goal of CONMEBOL's World Cup qualifiers (after 2010 and 2014), as well as the fourth consecutive time a Uruguayan player had done so (Martín Cáceres scored the first goal of the 2018 process).[2]
Format
On 24 January 2019, the CONMEBOL Council decided to maintain the same qualification structure used for the previous six tournaments.[3] The ten teams will play in a league of home-and-away round-robin matches.
The fixtures were determined by a draw which was held on 17 December 2019, 10:00 PYST (UTC−3), at the Bourbon Asunción Convention Hotel in Luque, Paraguay.[4][5][6][7][8]
Originally, Brazil and Argentina were both to be drawn into either position 4 or 5 in the draw, thus ensuring that no team has to play both of them on any double matchday.[9] However, the decision was later reversed on 16 November 2019 by the CONMEBOL Council, making the draw completely open.[10]
The CONMEBOL Council approved the use of the video assistant referee system for the qualifiers.[11]
Entrants
All 10 national teams from CONMEBOL entered qualification.
| Draw position |
Team | September 2020 FIFA World Rankings[12] |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uruguay | 6 |
| 2 |  Colombia | 10 |
| 3 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Peru | 22 |
| 4 |  Brazil | 3 |
| 5 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Venezuela | 25 |
| 6 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Bolivia | 75 |
| 7 | Paraguay | 40 |
| 8 |  Argentina | 9 |
| 9 | Chile | 17 |
| 10 |  Ecuador | 64 |
Schedule
The qualifying matches are played on dates that fall within the FIFA International Match Calendar.[3][13] There are a total of 18 matchdays. Originally eight matchdays would be in 2020 and ten would be in 2021.[14][15]
On 12 March 2020, FIFA announced that matches on matchdays 1–2 due to take place in March 2020 were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the new dates to be confirmed.[16]
On 25 June 2020, FIFA announced that the inter-confederation play-offs, originally scheduled to be played in March 2022, were moved to June 2022.[17]
On 10 July 2020, FIFA announced that the CONMEBOL qualifiers in September 2020 were postponed, with the qualifiers starting in October 2020. CONMEBOL also requested FIFA to include a replacement international window in January 2022 in order to complete the qualifiers in March 2022.[18] The proposal was approved by FIFA on 18 August 2020.[19]
| Matchday | Date | Fixtures | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revised | Original | ||
| Matchday 1 | 8 October 2020 | 26 March 2020 | 1 v 9, 2 v 5, 4 v 6, 7 v 3, 8 v 10 |
| Matchday 2 | 13 October 2020 | 31 March 2020 | 3 v 4, 5 v 7, 6 v 8, 9 v 2, 10 v 1 |
| Matchday 3 | 12 November 2020 | 3 September 2020 | 2 v 1, 4 v 5, 6 v 10, 8 v 7, 9 v 3 |
| Matchday 4 | 17 November 2020 | 8 September 2020 | 1 v 4, 3 v 8, 5 v 9, 7 v 6, 10 v 2 |
| Matchday 5 | 25 March 2021 | 8 October 2020 | 2 v 4, 5 v 10, 6 v 3, 8 v 1, 9 v 7 |
| Matchday 6 | 30 March 2021 | 13 October 2020 | 1 v 6, 3 v 5, 4 v 8, 7 v 2, 10 v 9 |
| Matchday 7 | 3 June 2021 | 12 November 2020 | 1 v 7, 3 v 2, 4 v 10, 6 v 5, 8 v 9 |
| Matchday 8 | 8 June 2021 | 17 November 2020 | 2 v 8, 5 v 1, 7 v 4, 9 v 6, 10 v 3 |
| Matchday 9 | 2 September 2021 | 25 March 2021 | 3 v 1, 5 v 8, 6 v 2, 9 v 4, 10 v 7 |
| Matchday 10 | 7 September 2021 | 30 March 2021 | 1 v 10, 2 v 9, 4 v 3, 7 v 5, 8 v 6 |
| Matchday 11 | 7 October 2021 | 3 June 2021 | 1 v 2, 3 v 9, 5 v 4, 7 v 8, 10 v 6 |
| Matchday 12 | 12 October 2021 | 8 June 2021 | 2 v 10, 4 v 1, 6 v 7, 8 v 3, 9 v 5 |
| Matchday 13 | 11 November 2021 | 2 September 2021 | 1 v 8, 3 v 6, 4 v 2, 7 v 9, 10 v 5 |
| Matchday 14 | 16 November 2021 | 7 September 2021 | 2 v 7, 5 v 3, 6 v 1, 8 v 4, 9 v 10 |
| Matchday 15 | 27 January 2022 | 7 October 2021 | 2 v 3, 5 v 6, 7 v 1, 9 v 8, 10 v 4 |
| Matchday 16 | 1 February 2022 | 12 October 2021 | 1 v 5, 3 v 10, 4 v 7, 6 v 9, 8 v 2 |
| Matchday 17 | 24 March 2022 | 11 November 2021 | 1 v 3, 2 v 6, 4 v 9, 7 v 10, 8 v 5 |
| Matchday 18 | 29 March 2022 | 16 November 2021 | 3 v 7, 5 v 2, 6 v 4, 9 v 1, 10 v 8 |
Standings
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
Matches
Matchday 1
| Paraguay | 2–2 | Peru |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (CONMEBOL) |
|
| Colombia | 3–0 | Venezuela |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (CONMEBOL) |
| Brazil | 5–0 | Bolivia |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (CONMEBOL) |
Matchday 2
| Bolivia | 1–2 | Argentina |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (CONMEBOL) |
|
| Peru | 2–4 | Brazil |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (CONMEBOL) |
|
Matchday 3
| Bolivia | 2–3 | Ecuador |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (CONMEBOL) |
|
| Colombia | 0–3 | Uruguay |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (CONMEBOL) |
| Chile | 2–0 | Peru |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (CONMEBOL) |
Matchday 4
| Uruguay | 0–2 | Brazil |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (CONMEBOL) |
|
| Paraguay | 2–2 | Bolivia |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (CONMEBOL) |
|
| Peru | 0–2 | Argentina |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (CONMEBOL) |
|
Matchday 5
Matchday 6
Matchday 7
Matchday 8
Matchday 9
Matchday 10
Matchday 11
Matchday 12
Matchday 13
Matchday 14
Matchday 15
Matchday 16
Matchday 17
Inter-confederation play-offs
The inter-confederation play-offs will be determined by another draw to be held at a later date. They are scheduled to be played in June 2022.
Goalscorers
There have been 67 goals scored in 20 matches, for an average of 3.35 goals per match (as of 17 November 2020).
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
- Joaquín Correa
- Lionel Messi
- Juan Carlos Arce
- Boris Céspedes
- Arthur
- Philippe Coutinho
- Marquinhos
- Radamel Falcao
- Jefferson Lerma
- James Rodríguez
- Duván Zapata
- Robert Arboleda
- Xavier Arreaga
- Beder Caicedo
- Moisés Caicedo
- Pervis Estupiñán
- Carlos Gruezo
- Gastón Giménez
- Alejandro Romero Gamarra
- Renato Tapia
- Edinson Cavani
- Maxi Gómez
- Darwin Núñez
- Luis Mago
- Salomón Rondón
1 own goal
- José María Carrasco (against Brazil)
Notes
- The Peru v Brazil match was originally scheduled on 13 October 2020, 21:15 local time,[20] but was rescheduled to 19:00 local time since Peru maintains a curfew which begins at 23:00 as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 pandemic.[21][22]
- The Chile v Colombia match was originally scheduled on 13 October 2020, 20:00 local time,[20] but was rescheduled to 21:30 local to avoid a clash with a scheduled political broadcast in Chile about a constitutional plebiscite.[23]
References
- "Current allocation of FIFA World Cup™ confederation slots maintained". FIFA.com. 30 May 2015.
- "Clasificatorias Sudamericanas: Selección que anotó el primer gol siempre fue al Mundial". Gol Perú. 8 October 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
- "Clasificatorio sudamericano al Mundial de Qatar arrancará en marzo del 2020" (in Spanish). Conmebol.com. 24 January 2019.
- "FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers: draws to take centre stage in South America and Africa". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 11 December 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- "Se viene el sorteo oficial de las Eliminatorias Sudamericanas para la Copa Mundial de la FIFA QATAR 2022" (in Spanish). CONMEBOL. 19 November 2019.
- "Eliminatorias sudamericanas 2022: cuándo empiezan, fechas y partidos" (in Spanish). Goal.com. 29 November 2019.
- "RELIVE: Preliminary Draw for CONMEBOL Qatar 2022 qualifiers". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 17 December 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
- "El calendario de partidos de las Eliminatorias más emocionantes del mundo" [The calendar of matches of the most exciting qualifiers in the world] (in Spanish). CONMEBOL. 17 December 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
- "Se sortean las Eliminatorias Sudamericanas al Mundial de la FIFA – Qatar 2022" [FIFA World Cup – Qatar 2022 South American Qualifiers to be drawn] (in Spanish). CONMEBOL.com. 11 December 2019. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019.
- "El Sorteo de Eliminatorias CONMEBOL para el Mundial FIFA Qatar 2022 contará con bolillas indiferenciadas para todas las selecciones" [The CONMEBOL qualifying draw for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will feature undifferentiated balls for all teams] (in Spanish). CONMEBOL. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
- "Se aplicará el VAR en todos los encuentros clasificatorios para el Mundial FIFA Qatar 2022" (in Spanish). CONMEBOL.com. 14 February 2020.
- "FIFA Men's Ranking – September 2020 (FIFA)". FIFA.com. 17 September 2020.
- "INTERNATIONAL MATCH CALENDAR 2020-2024" (PDF). FIFA.
- "Clasificatorio de selecciones CONMEBOL al Mundial de Qatar arranca en marzo del 2020" (in Spanish). Conmebol.com. 18 May 2019.
- "Preliminary draw (CONMEBOL)" (PDF). CONMEBOL. 17 December 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
- "Update on upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers in South America". FIFA.com. 12 March 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- "FIFA Council unanimously approves COVID-19 Relief Plan". FIFA.com. 25 June 2020.
- "South American FIFA World Cup qualifiers to begin in October". FIFA.com. 10 July 2020.
- "Further changes to the international match calendars due to the COVID-19 pandemic unanimously approved by the Bureau of the Council". FIFA.com. 18 August 2020.
- CONMEBOL Twitter [@CONMEBOL] (21 September 2020). "¡Fechas y horarios del primer combo Clasificatorio al Mundial de Catar 2022!" (Tweet) (in Spanish) – via Twitter.
- Peruvian Football Federation Twitter [@TuFPF] (23 September 2020). "A través de esta carta, @CONMEBOL hizo oficial el cambio de horario para el partido entre nuestra @SeleccionPeru y @CBF_Futebol por la segunda fecha de las Clasificatorias a Qatar 2022. El encuentro se jugará el martes 13 de octubre a las 19:00 horas" (Tweet) (in Spanish) – via Twitter.
- "Perú vs. Brasil: Conmebol hizo oficial el cambio de horario del partido por las Eliminatorias en Lima" (in Spanish). RPP Noticias. 23 September 2020.
- "Conmebol confirmó cambio de horario del partido entre Chile y Colombia por eliminatorias" (in Spanish). 24 Horas. 24 September 2020.