7 National Football Teams that Will Miss the 2022 World Cup?

32 nations will play at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which means that 179 of the teams eligible to enter the qualification process have missed out. Some of those dropped out before qualification began, whilst others did so later in the process for a range of reasons, including concerns about COVID (North Korea), travel restrictions (Vanuatu) and a huge volcanic eruption (Tonga). That nations such as Jamaica and Jordan, or Andorra and Angola, are missing is no surprise, but there are several huge football nations that will be absent from Qatar.

This piece details the biggest teams who failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. And really, there is only one place to start.

Italy

Italy won the European Championships in 2021 (Euro 2020) and have lifted the World Cup four times. They are one of the true giants of world football and won two of the first three World Cups, whilst their domestic top flight, Serie A, is one of the most watched and loved leagues in the world. They boast an array of world-class stars such as Gianluigi Donnarumma, Leonardo Bonucci, Chelsea’s Jorginho and Napoli’s exciting young forward, Giacomo Raspadori. And yet they will have to sit and watch as club colleagues and friends strut their stuff at the World Cup.

Italy was drawn into UEFA qualifying Group C alongside Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria and Lithuania. They were fully expected to qualify, especially given their incredible form under boss Roberto Mancini. The group went a record 37 games unbeaten. That run saw them breeze to Euro 2020 with a 100% record in qualifying, then lift the cup and progress to the Nations League finals.

However, despite a strong start to their efforts to qualify for Qatar, they came unstuck. A home draw with Bulgaria was a poor result, and when they could only manage two points from their final two matches, drawing with both Switzerland and Northern Ireland, their hopes of automatic qualification vanished. In the end, they finished two points adrift of the Swiss in second, having only scored 13 goals in their eight games.

As group runners-up, they were pitched into the playoffs and seeded third. The draw was unkind to them as they were placed in Path C alongside Portugal. Still, before a potential decider against Cristiano Ronaldo and co, they had the seeming formality of a semi-final against minnows North Macedonia, a country with a population of just two million that had never qualified for a World Cup finals.

However, nothing in football is given, and despite the home advantage against the unseeded side, Italy lost. They went down 1-0, to the disbelief of most of the 34,129 fans inside the Stadio Renzo Barbera. North Macedonia would go on to lose the final to Portugal (2-0), but this was indeed a disaster for Italy.

Italy also failed to qualify for the World Cup in 2018, making this the first time they had missed consecutive World Cups. They will be the only former champions absent from Qatar. In a country where football is a religion, this will provide a real test of the fans’ faith.

Colombia

Another side with a proud footballing history that won’t be heading to the Middle East this November is Colombia. The South Americans have made the World Cup finals six times previously, including in 2018 and 2014, but they finished sixth in qualification this year. That meant that not only did they miss out on automatic qualification, but they also failed to make the inter-confederation play-offs, Peru pipping them by a point.

Los Cafeteros made it to the quarter-finals in 2014 but could only manage to win five of their 18 games during CONMEBOL qualifying. They lost fewer matches than the three sides that finished directly above them, but a group-high eight draws cost them dearly.

They had been looking in decent shape to make the play-offs, but on Matchday 15, they suffered a shock 1-0 defeat on home soil to Peru, which meant they were up against it. This meant that Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Ecuador qualified for Qatar automatically, whilst Peru was edged out on penalties in the play-off game against Australia.

Chile

Another South American powerhouse to miss out on was Chile, who won the Copa America in 2015 and 2016 and were looking to make a 10th appearance at the finals. They qualified in 2010 and 2014 but finished well down the pecking order this time around, four points adrift of Colombia in seventh, ahead of only Paraguay, Bolivia and Venezuela.

Chile ranked 29th in the FIFA rankings at the time of writing (Colombia are 17th) and lost half of their 18 games, a shocking record for such a nation. They were far too open, with only two nations conceding more than their 26 goals, and they will have to wait four years to compete in the showpiece again.

Egypt

The world rankings do not tell the whole picture. Given that the team is ranked 39th missing out on a tournament with only 32 nations should not come as a surprise. However, Egypt’s absence from the 2022 tournament is still significant. Their qualification record is far from stellar, but they did make it to Russia in 2018. With Mo Salah among their ranks, they will have been disappointed not to qualify for consecutive World Cups for the first time in their history.

Salah has been one of the best players in the world for the past three or four seasons, but Egypt fell short. They topped Group F easily, winning four and drawing two of their games. They were eliminated in the third round, though, going down on penalties against Senegal. That game saw Salah up against then-Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane, and it was the now-Bayern Munich forward who notched the winning penalty to eliminate Egypt.

The Pharaohs have won the Africa Cup of Nations five times. That includes three in a row between 2006 and 2010. They also lost in the final in 2021 (against Senegal!) and in 2017, but there will be no glory in Qatar, that is for sure.

→ Read Also: Top Football Players that will not play at the World Cup 2022

Sweden

More teams qualify for the World Cup from the UEFA section than any other. However, that certainly does not mean that European teams have it easy, with 55 UEFA nations battling it out for 13 spots. The strength in depth within UEFA means that, inevitably, some fine nations miss out, and Sweden joins Italy in being among them for Qatar 2022.

Sweden has never won the World Cup (or the European Championships). Still, their record at the global showpiece is comparable with England’s. The Scandinavian nation lost a final, on home soil in 1958, to a Pele-inspired Brazil and made the semis on three occasions. They also made the quarters in 2018 but fell at the first hurdle in qualification this time.

They acquitted themselves well enough, though, being pipped by a very strong Spain in Group B. They won five of their eight matches and even beat the group winners on home soil in Solna. However, defeats away in Greece and Georgia cost them dear and condemned them to the play-offs.

Sadly for Sweden, they were beaten by Poland 2-0 in the final of the Path B route. They beat the Czechs in their semi-final, but the Poles, who had the advantage of playing in front of their fans in Chorzow, were just too tough on the night.

Nigeria

Nigeria was one of the first African teams to really make an impact on the world stage. They first qualified for WorldCup finals in 1994 and did superbly to make the last 16. They repeated that performance four years later and again in 2014, and since their debut, they had previously only missed out in 2006, appearing in six out of seven World Cups.

Unfortunately for the Super Eagles, that record now reads six out of eight. Nigeria topped their second-round group like Egypt, winning four of their six matches. In the third round, they faced West African rivals Ghana but suffered the cruel fate of elimination on away goals.

The teams drew 0-0 in Ghana, and a 1-1 stalemate in Nigeria was enough to see the visitors make it to Qatar. The Super Eagles will, of course, be back, but for now, they join the other very good nations detailed in this piece in watching the 2022 World Cup from the sidelines.

Russia

Russia will be missing from the 2022 World Cup due to their invasion and occupation of Ukraine. According to FIFA, they are the world’s 33rd-best team and reached the quarter-finals as hosts in 2018.

Qualification in 2022 did not go brilliantly, but they performed reasonably to come second in Group H. They finished just a point behind Croatia but ahead of Slovakia and Slovenia. This saw them go into the play-offs, where they were due to face Poland in a pathway that also included Sweden and the Czech Republic.

The three nations quickly expressed their unwillingness to play in Russia. Not long after, all three refused to play against Russia. Discussions and negotiations took place, and eventually, FIFA took the decision to suspend Russia from international football. This gave Poland a bye to the finals and meant that Russia was another team not at Qatar 2022.