2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group A

The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group A was one of the ten UEFA groups in the World Cup qualification tournament to decide which teams would qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals tournament in Qatar.[1] Group A consisted of five teams: Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland and Serbia.[2] The teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format.[3]

The group winners, Serbia, qualified directly for the World Cup finals, while the runners-up, Portugal, advanced to the second round (play-offs).

Qatar were partnered with the five-team group that does not contain a UEFA Nations League finalist, Group A, which enabled the 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts to play centralized friendlies against these countries on their "spare" match dates. However, these friendlies did not count in the qualifying group standings. Also, Qatar played their "home" matches in Europe in order to allow short travel times for their opponents.[4][5][6]

Standings

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Serbia 8 6 2 0 18 9 +9 20 Qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup — 2–2 3–2 4–1 3–1
2  Portugal 8 5 2 1 17 6 +11 17 Advance to play-offs 1–2 — 2–1 5–0 1–0
3  Republic of Ireland 8 2 3 3 11 8 +3 9 1–1 0–0 — 0–1 1–1
4  Luxembourg 8 3 0 5 8 18 −10 9 0–1 1–3 0–3 — 2–1
5  Azerbaijan 8 0 1 7 5 18 −13 1 1–2 0–3 0–3 1–3 —
Source: FIFA, UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Matches

The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 8 December 2020, the day following the draw.[7][8][9] Times are CET/CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Portugal 1–0 Azerbaijan
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 0[10][note 2]
Serbia 3–2 Republic of Ireland
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 0[11][note 2]
Referee: Davide Massa (Italy)
Republic of Ireland 0–1 Luxembourg
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)		 Rodrigues 85'
Attendance: 0[12][note 2]
Referee: Fran Jović (Croatia)
Serbia 2–2 Portugal
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 0[13][note 2]
Azerbaijan 1–2 Serbia
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 0[14][note 2]
Luxembourg 1–3 Portugal
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 0[15][note 2]
Luxembourg 2–1 Azerbaijan
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 2,000[17]
Portugal 2–1 Republic of Ireland
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 7,831[18]
Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia)
Republic of Ireland 1–1 Azerbaijan
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 21,287[19]
Serbia 4–1 Luxembourg
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 10,078[20]
Azerbaijan 0–3 Portugal
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 20,574[21]
Referee: Marco Guida (Italy)
Republic of Ireland 1–1 Serbia
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 25,415[22]
Azerbaijan 0–3 Republic of Ireland
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 6,852[23]
Referee: Espen Eskås (Norway)
Luxembourg 0–1 Serbia
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 2,000[24]
Portugal 5–0 Luxembourg
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 18,553[25]
Serbia 3–1 Azerbaijan
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 5,890[26]
Azerbaijan 1–3 Luxembourg
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 2,986[27]
Republic of Ireland 0–0 Portugal
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 50,373[28]
Luxembourg 0–3 Republic of Ireland
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 9,268[29]
Portugal 1–2 Serbia
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 58,873[30]

Goalscorers

There were 59 goals scored in 20 matches, for an average of 2.95 goals per match.

8 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Discipline

A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:[31]

  • Receiving a red card (red card suspensions could be extended for serious offences)
  • Receiving two yellow cards in two different matches (yellow card suspensions were carried forward to the play-offs, but not the finals or any other future international matches)

The following suspensions were served during the qualifying matches:

Team Player Offence(s) Suspended for match(es)
 Azerbaijan Hojjat Haghverdi Yellow card vs Portugal (7 September 2021)
Yellow card vs Serbia (12 October 2021)		 vs Luxembourg (11 November 2021)
Anton Krivotsyuk Yellow card vs Luxembourg (1 September 2021)
Yellow card vs Republic of Ireland (4 September 2021)		 vs Portugal (7 September 2021)
 Luxembourg Dirk Carlson Yellow card vs Serbia (9 October 2021)
Yellow card vs Azerbaijan (11 November 2021)		 vs Republic of Ireland (14 November 2021)
Maxime Chanot Yellow card Yellow-red card vs Portugal (30 March 2021) vs Azerbaijan (1 September 2021)
Christopher Martins Yellow card vs Azerbaijan (1 September 2021)
Yellow card vs Serbia (4 September 2021)		 vs Serbia (9 October 2021)
Gerson Rodrigues Yellow card Yellow-red card vs Serbia (4 September 2021)
 Portugal Bruno Fernandes Yellow card vs Azerbaijan (24 March 2021)
Yellow card vs Serbia (27 March 2021)		 vs Luxembourg (30 March 2021)
Nuno Mendes Yellow card vs Azerbaijan (7 September 2021)
Yellow card vs Luxembourg (12 October 2021)		 vs Republic of Ireland (11 November 2021)
Pepe Yellow card Yellow-red card vs Republic of Ireland (11 November 2021) vs Serbia (14 November 2021)
Cristiano Ronaldo Yellow card vs Serbia (27 March 2021)
Yellow card vs Republic of Ireland (1 September 2021)		 vs Azerbaijan (7 September 2021)
 Serbia Filip Đuričić Yellow card vs Republic of Ireland (7 September 2021)
Yellow card vs Luxembourg (9 October 2021)		 vs Azerbaijan (12 October 2021)
Nikola Milenković Red card vs Portugal (27 March 2021) vs Azerbaijan (30 March 2021)
Strahinja Pavlović Yellow card vs Republic of Ireland (24 March 2021)
Yellow card vs Luxembourg (9 October 2021)		 vs Azerbaijan (12 October 2021)
 Republic of Ireland Alan Browne Yellow card vs Azerbaijan (4 September 2021)
Yellow card vs Serbia (7 September 2021)		 vs Azerbaijan (9 October 2021)
Jayson Molumby

Notes

  1. ^ CET (UTC+1) for matches until 27 March and from 31 October (matchday 1–2 and 9–10), and CEST (UTC+2) for matches from 28 March to 30 October 2021 (matchday 3–8).
  2. ^ a b c d e f Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the match was played behind closed doors.

References

  1. ^ "UEFA preliminary competition for the FIFA World Cup 2022: Draw procedures" (PDF). FIFA. 22 October 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  2. ^ "FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition – Draw Results" (PDF). UEFA. 7 December 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  3. ^ "UEFA preliminary competition format for the FIFA World Cup 2022" (PDF). FIFA. 4 December 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 December 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  4. ^ "Qatar links into Euro World Cup qualifying for friendlies". AP News. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  5. ^ "Group A matches with Qatar". UEFA. 11 December 2020. Archived from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  6. ^ "World Cup Qualifying Calendar – Group A with Qatar" (PDF). UEFA. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  7. ^ "European Qualifiers for 2022 World Cup: all the fixtures". UEFA. 9 December 2020. Archived from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  8. ^ "Fixture List – European Qualifiers 2020–2022: FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition" (PDF). UEFA. 8 December 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 December 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  9. ^ "Fixture List by Group – European Qualifiers 2020–2022: FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition" (PDF). UEFA. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  10. ^ "Portugal vs. Azerbaijan" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 24 March 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  11. ^ "Serbia vs. Republic of Ireland" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 24 March 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  12. ^ "Republic of Ireland vs. Luxembourg" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 27 March 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  13. ^ "Serbia vs. Portugal" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 27 March 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  14. ^ "Azerbaijan vs. Serbia" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  15. ^ "Luxembourg vs. Portugal" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  16. ^ a b c "Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Football - Actualités". Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Football. Archived from the original on 2 February 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  17. ^ "Luxembourg vs. Azerbaijan" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 1 September 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  18. ^ "Portugal vs. Republic of Ireland" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 1 September 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  19. ^ "Republic of Ireland vs. Azerbaijan" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 4 September 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  20. ^ "Serbia vs. Luxembourg" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 4 September 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  21. ^ "Azerbaijan vs. Portugal" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  22. ^ "Republic of Ireland vs. Serbia" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  23. ^ "Azerbaijan vs. Republic of Ireland" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 9 October 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  24. ^ "Luxembourg vs. Serbia" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 9 October 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  25. ^ "Portugal vs. Luxembourg" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 12 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  26. ^ "Serbia vs. Azerbaijan" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 12 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  27. ^ "Azerbaijan vs. Luxembourg" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 11 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  28. ^ "Republic of Ireland vs. Portugal" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 11 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  29. ^ "Luxembourg vs. Republic of Ireland" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 14 November 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  30. ^ "Portugal vs. Serbia" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 14 November 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  31. ^ "Regulations FIFA World Cup 2022 Preliminary Competition" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 October 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.