World Cup intercontinental playoffs to be single leg games – FIFA

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Berlin, GERMANY: A picture taken 12 May 2006 shows the FIFA World Cup trophy presented to the public in Berlin, as it toured Germany. The trophy, which FIFA commissionned for the 10th World Cup in 1974, is made of solid gold and malachite and was designed by Italian artist Silvio Gazzaniga. It is 36cm high, made of solid 18-carat gold and weighs 4,970 grams. The base contains two layers of semi-precious malachite and has room for 17 small plaques bearing the name of the winners. The winners of the Football World Cup 2006 final match played 09 July in Berlin will retain it until the next tournament, in South Africa, and they will be awarded a gold-plated replica. AFP PHOTO / BARBARA SAX (Photo credit should read BARBARA SAX/AFP/Getty Images)

The intercontinental playoffs to qualify for next year’s World Cup finals will be contested as single games rather than the usual two-legged, home and away format, FIFA said on Friday.

The playoffs will feature the highest placed teams not to have automatically qualified from Africa, Asia, South America and the CONCACAF (North and Central America and Caribbean) regions.

Four nations will compete for two spots in the finals which will be held in November 2022 in Qatar.

The playoffs were originally scheduled to take place over two legs in March 2022 but were rescheduled to June 2022 due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on the qualifying schedule.

The games will be played at a neutral venue which is yet to be determined by soccer’s global governing body.

The draw for the games will take place on Friday, following the draw for the European qualification playoffs.

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