User:Rylesbourne/sandbox/2022 FIFA Rimet Cup

The 2022 FIFA Rimet Cup was the 13th FIFA Rimet Cup, a quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA, for the top teams in FIFA World Cup qualification that do not qualify for the FIFA World Cup. It will take place in India from 16 November to 16 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in 2017.

Italy are the defending champions, having won the 2018 edition. They have qualified for the 2022 edition and can defend their title.

Due to the expansion of the FIFA World Cup, this will be the final tournament with 48 teams (including the preliminary round), as the tournament will decrease to 32 teams in 2026.

Host selection
The bidding procedure to host the 2022 FIFA Rimert Cup began in January 2015.

In the end, there were five bids for the 2022 FIFA World Cup: Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Uzbekistan. The twenty-two member FIFA Executive Committee convened in Zürich on 2 December 2015 to vote to select the hosts of both tournaments.

The voting patterns were as follows:

Qualification

 * Main articles: 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification and 2022 FIFA Rimet Cup qualification

FIFA's six continental confederations organise their own qualifying competitions. All FIFA member associations, of which there are currently 211, were eligible to enter qualification. Qatar, as hosts, qualified automatically for the tournament. However, the AFC obliged Qatar to participate in the Asian qualifying stage as the first two rounds also act as qualification for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. Since the Qataris reached the final stage as winners in their group, Lebanon, the fifth-best second place team, advanced instead. 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. American Samoa and Samoa both withdrew before the OFC draw. Tonga withdrew after the 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai eruption and tsunami. Due to COVID-19 outbreaks in their squads, Vanuatu and Cook Islands also withdrew.

The allocation of slots for each confederation was discussed by the FIFA Executive Committee on 30 May 2015 in Zürich after the FIFA Congress. The committee decided that the allocations in 2006, which remained unchanged for 2010, 2014, and 2018, would continue for the 2022 tournament:

Qualified teams
A total of 48 teams qualify for the tournament. 16 teams make the group stage, and 32 play in a qualifying series prior to the tournament.

Hosts India and Curaçao were making their Rimet Cup debuts. Four previous champions, Chile, Czech Republic, Italy, and Egypt qualified. Defending champions and finalists, Italy and Austria, respectively, qualified. The consolation finishers from last tournament, Wales and the United States, qualified for the 2022 World Cup and were drawn in the same group.

Draw
The draw was held on 1 July 2022, at 18:00 CEST, at the Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four.

For the draw, the teams were allocated to four pots based on the FIFA World Rankings of June 2022. Pot 1 contained the hosts India (who were automatically assigned to Position A1) and the best seven teams, Pot 2 contained the next best eight teams, and so on for Pots 3 and 4. The six unknown UEFA Teams at the time were drawn into pots depending on the higher ranked team in the pairings. Teams from the same confederation, except UEFA, could be drawn in the same group. No more than two UEFA teams could be in the group.

Squads

 * Main article: 2022 FIFA Rimet Cup squads

Before submitting their final squad for the tournament, teams name a provisional squad of up to 55 players. Teams were required to have their 55-player roster submitted to FIFA by 21 October. They are not required to make this public. Teams must name their final squads by 13 November. In August 2022, FIFA increased the final squad size to 26 players from a total of 23 players at the 2018 edition.