Qatar participates in the European qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup

The Qatar Football Association announced in an official statement today, Tuesday, that the first team will participate in the European qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, stating that the European Football Association has invited Annabi to participate in Group A in the qualifiers. .

The Qatar Federation said in the statement that Al Annabi will participate in the Group A European qualifiers, along with Portugal, Serbia, Ireland, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan.

He added: “In light of the Qatari national team’s qualification for the 2022 World Cup as the host country’s representative, the results of their matches will not be counted in the points ranking of the teams in Group A, which will be determined by the directly classified team for the Qatar 2022 tournament, and the team that will participate in the qualifying supplement for the World Cup. “

The statement continued: “Al-Annabi’s participation in the qualifiers is part of the preparation of the Qatari national team, which will host the next edition of the World Cup, in less than two years.”

The president of the Qatar Federation, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, said that the participation “is an ideal opportunity to improve the performance of our national team through contact with international teams such as Portugal, the League champion. of Nations of Europe and the winner of the Glass of Europe 2016, and other equipment of the same group “.

It should be noted that the Qatari team, holder of the AFC Asian Cup, participated last year in the Copa América in Brazil, and will play in next year’s edition of the same tournament in addition to its participation in the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

The Independent newspaper had previously announced that the Qatari national team would play in Group A, alongside Ireland, Portugal, Luxembourg, Serbia and Azerbaijan.

“As Qatar has already qualified for the 2022 World Cup as host country, UEFA has invited it to join the teams in Group A to help its team prepare for the tournament,” a short statement read published by the British newspaper.

According to the cited source, this step comes after negotiations between the AFC and UEFA.