Last Call for Costa Rica... 32 Teams Confirmed for Qatar World Cup Finals

Costa Rican players are cheering after securing their spot in the Qatar World Cup finals.
[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seomideum] Costa Rica secured the last spot by defeating New Zealand in the intercontinental playoff (PO) on the 15th (Korean time). With this, the participants for the 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup finals have been finalized.

The World Cup finals, held in Qatar from November 21 to December 18, will feature 32 countries. They will be divided into 8 groups of 4 countries each for the group stage, after which the top 2 teams from each group will advance to the round of 16 knockout stage to compete for the championship trophy.

Among the qualified teams, Europe has the most with 13 countries. Next are the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member countries, including Australia, totaling 6 nations. Africa has 5 countries, while South America and North and Central America each have 4 countries.

The team with the most appearances is Brazil, which has participated in all 22 tournaments. Qatar, as the host nation, automatically qualified and will appear in the World Cup finals for the first time.

This World Cup is the first to be held in November. It is also the first time the tournament is hosted by an Arab country. The decision on the qualified teams was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia was banned from international competitions due to the invasion.

South Korea has participated in 10 consecutive World Cup finals from the 1986 Mexico tournament to this year's Qatar tournament. Including their first appearance at the 1954 Switzerland tournament, this marks their 11th overall World Cup finals qualification. They are placed in Group H along with Portugal, Uruguay, and Ghana.

South Korea's first match will be on November 24 at 10 PM Korean time against Uruguay in the group stage. On November 28 at 10 PM, they will face Ghana. The third match will be against Portugal on December 3 at midnight. All three matches will be held at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.