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As things stand, nearly all the qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup have been determined, as many of the confederations have completed their qualification processes.
The USA and Canada are among the returnees to the biggest international stage of all, while Ecuador and Ghana also make their return. Host nation Qatar will also play in their first-ever FIFA World Cup.
The draw for the group stage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup is slated for Friday April 1 2022 and the teams will learn their opponents.
Some high-ranking nations failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup
In every edition of the World Cup, there are usually nations that shockingly miss out on qualification. In 2018, European giants Italy, the Netherlands, Chile and USA were among the nations to miss out. In 2014, Denmark, Sweden and Serbia missed out on the tournament.
Some nations will miss out on the 2022 FIFA World Cup in similar fashion after they fell in the qualification process for the tournament. Without further ado, here is a list of the five highest-ranking countries that will not be part of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. This list has been compiled using the February 2022 FIFA rankings.
#5 Austria - Rank 30
Austria's captain David Alaba cut a distraught figure as his side missed out on the World Cup in Qatar despite having fought valiantly. They lost to the brilliance of Gareth Bale against Wales in the playoff semifinals.
Austria last appeared at the FIFA World Cup in 1998 when they failed to make it out of the group stage. This time, they finished fourth in their qualifying group behind Denmark, Scotland and Israel, but were able to make the playoffs due to their performance in the UEFA Nations League. They lost 2-1 to Wales in the playoffs and were eliminated from the qualification process.
With the likes of Alaba, Marko Arnautovic, Marcel Sabitzer, Martin Hinteregger and Aleksandar Dragovic in Austria's team, it was expected that they would make the World Cup. By the time the next edition comes by in 2026, many of these players will be in their 30s and past their best.
#4 Chile - Rank 26
For the second edition running, Chile will not be part of the teams at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar after they failed to make it through CONMEBOL qualifying. Despite having a good number of star players scattered across Europe, the Chilean national team failed to make an impression in qualifying.
Chile finished in seventh place in the ten-team table with only Paraguay, Bolivia and Venezuela having a worse record than them. The team contrived to lose nine of their 18 qualifying matches while winning only five. Despite the emergence of Blackburn Rovers striker Ben Brereton, the team could not force its way into the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The 2015 and 2016 Copa America winners have a team full of relatively old players including Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal, Gary Medel and Mauricio Isla. They need to rebuild to ensure that they do not miss out on the 2026 edition of the competition.
#3 Colombia - Rank 19
SInce impressing at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Colombia have failed to reach the same heights in the competition. They went out at the Round of 16 stage in Russia in 2018, and have now failed to qualify for the tournament altogether.
Colombia finished the CONMEBOL qualifying race in sixth place, narrowly missing out on a place in the intercontinental playoffs. They managed to win only five of their 18 matches in the qualifiers. They were without star midfielder James Rodriguez for long periods during the qualifiers.
After qualifying for two successive FIFA World Cups in 2014 and 2018, Colombia have failed to reach the Mundial this year. Now, younger players like Luis Diaz must spearhead their attempts to return to the biggest stage of all.
#2 Sweden - Rank 17
Despite the return to international football of 40-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Sweden's young guns could not make it to the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The Swedes were eliminated by Robert Lewandowski and the Polish national team in the playoffs.
Sweden finished a close second behind Spain in the first round of the qualifiers in Europe, causing them to drop to the playoffs. Poland defeated them 2-0 to end their dreams of reaching the World Cup once more.
Ibrahimovic has never scored a World Cup goal and was hoping to correct that by playing in Qatar this year, but fitness issues caused the veteran to miss out. He only played the final few minutes of the game against Poland after his side had gone two goals down.
#1 Italy - Rank 6
For the first time in their history, Italy will miss out on two successive FIFA World Cups. The weight of the occasion seemingly weighed too heavily on the Italian players as they lost 1-0 to North Macedonia in the semifinal of the playoffs.
Italy's last appearance at the World Cup ended in the group stage in 2014 in Brazil. They have been rebuilding since then and many thought they had returned after winning Euro 2020. Since then, however, they have not been at their best and have looked a lot like the former Italy teams that struggled.
Looking at the age of the current national team players, many of them will not be around by the time the 2026 World Cup comes around. The coach and administrators must now look towards building the team around younger players in preparation for reaching the next World Cup.
