Arab countries face final hurdle for Qatar 2022 World Cup places

The third and final round of Asian qualifiers for the World Cup 2022 in Qatar will kick off later this week and will see the likes of Syria and Saudi Arabia among Arab countries who will compete.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, which will determine which countries will compete in the world’s most highly anticipated football competition in Qatar next year, concluded its second round on Tuesday.

Several countries in the Middle East gained enough points in the first and second round of matches in the World Cup Asian qualifiers to make it to the final phase including Syria, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman and Lebanon.

In the second round, Iran beat Iraq 1-0, the UAE beat Vietnam 3-2, while Saudi Arabia topped Group D.

Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain, Palestine, Yemen, and Afghanistan were the Middle Eastern countries that qualified for the Asian Cup only, which will take place in 2023, a year after the World Cup.

In 2018, four MENA countries went on to compete in the World Cup: Morocco and Tunisia joined Egypt and Saudi Arabia.