Qatar 2022 World Cup Guide

Italy and Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini is edging closer to signing a new contract extension with the Old Lady and he could put pen to paper and sign the new deal as early as in the coming days, according to several widespread reports.

The veteran central defender is 36 already and while many have thought that he is already nearing the tail-end of his career, he is still going stronger and is also making a huge statement to be offered a new contract extension at the Turin club. After captaining his country Italy at the recently concluded UEFA Euros tournament and leading them to win the title, it is looking highly likely that he plays for Italy in Qatar next year.

New Germany head coach Hansi Flick may not have taken possession of the country's national side squad yet, but he is already making plans for the future, according to a recent interview he granted. Flick announced before the end of last season that he would be stepping down as Bayern Munich manager after insisting that he would not be extending his contract with the German Bundesliga giants. His departure from the German club meant that he was going to be replaced by RB Leipzig manager Julian Nagelsmann even though the move earlier had tongues wagging.

Cruzeiro striker Marcelo Moreno is the surprise leader of the goal-scoring chart in the South American section of the World Cup 2022 qualifiers after finding the back of the net five times in the first five games. Moreno has more goals than big name players like Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi, Atletico Madrid striker Luis Suarez, Paris Saint Germain (PSG) attacker Neymar and others.

Moreno and Bolivia began the World Cup 2022 qualifiers on the losing side following the 5-0 defeat at the hands of hosts Brazil. Cruzeiro striker Moreno opened his account in the second game against Argentina. Moreno gave Bolivia the lead on 24 minutes before Argentina recovered to win the game 2-1 courtesy the goals from Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez and Angel Correa.

Sometimes, in football, some things just happen that may appear to be unexplainable. This is the case of Hansi Flick's announcement that he was going to be stepping down as Bayern Munich's manager. Flick, a hugely successful and talented manager guided German Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich to several trophies since his appointment by the club and he has already set a legacy even though he will be leaving at the end of the season.

Flick's announcement came as a shocking one because no one saw it coming. It is hard to manage a club like Bayern Munich and win the German Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal, the UEFA Champions League, and the FIFA Club World Cup all in less than two years and still decide that you are going to be stepping down from your role as the manager of the club. However, for Flick, it appeared not to be that hard.

It was a shocking sight as a star-studded Germany squad lost to North Macedonia in their World Cup Qualifying fixture days ago, and the result has still left some people feeling shocked and awed at how Germany could succumb to defeat to the Macedonians. Germany headed into the game having not lost a World Cup Qualifying game in as many as 20 years, and a lot of German news media outlets have brandished the result as an unacceptable one.

The loss not only came at home in Munich, but it was also suffered against a North Macedonian side that was ranked 65th in the world FIFA rankings. Following the result, the German press became overwhelmed and several headlines made the rounds, with one newspaper media saying that the result was shocking and humiliating.

Republic of Ireland international midfielder Jack Byrne is set to spend a huge amount of time on the sidelines and has also been ruled out of his country's World Cup Qualifying games which will be played later this year against Serbia and Luxembourg. The midfielder suffered a serious back injury and has since undergone surgery but will not be able to recover in time to help his country on the football pitch at the qualifiers.

“It comes as disastrous and disappointing news for the talented midfielder who earlier this season made it clear that he would do everything he could to represent his team at the qualifiers and has been putting in some incredible performances for his club side APOEL since then.

Qatar says that the World Cup 2022 is likely to be a ‘completely normal’ event with the world finally getting to grips with the coronavirus pandemic thanks to the invention of vaccines. The pandemic, which began in January 2020, has brought the world to a halt with most normal activities being disrupted. Unsurprisingly, football has had to bear the brunt of the changes and many major tournaments like the Tokyo Olympics and European Championships had to be cancelled or postponed. The pandemic threatens to transform the World Cup 2022 into quite a different spectacle compared to what the world has experienced in previous years.

However, many pharmaceutical companies have been successful in creating vaccine for the coronavirus. As a result, it is believed that the pandemic will come to an end within the next few months. This is good news for Qatar, who have invested a lot of money into the World Cup by upgrading the infrastructure. The Chief Executive of the 2022 World Cup committee, Nasser Al-Khater, said that everyone is looking forward to hosting a normal World Cup. The qualification rounds for the competition have already been going under way and many teams will be learning about their path to the tournament when the qualification draw is made in Zurich.

Blackburn Rovers defender Derrick Williams won't be available for the start of the World Cup 2022 qualifiers in the European section. Derrick Williams won't be able to start the World Cup 2022 qualifying campaign for the Republic of Ireland after he underwent surgery last month. The Blackburn Rovers player would be out of action for the foreseeable future after he had surgery on his quadriceps. Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray had told Lancashire Telegraph that Republic of Ireland international Derrick Williams won't be available for the foreseeable future.

Derrick Williams is expected to miss the remainder of the season as his Blackburn Rovers go after a playoff spot in the English Championship between now and the rest of the season. To this effect, the player will miss the first few World Cup 2022 qualifiers for his nation. He made his Republic of Ireland debut during an international with world champions France in 2018 before netting his first goal for his country in the friendly clash with New Zealand in 2019.

The World Cup 2022 qualifying group is in full flow on the South American continent after the qualifiers started in October. The South American section of the World Cup qualifiers is always unique in comparison with the other continents and World Cup 2022 is not an exception.

Just like what was obtainable with the past editions, the ten South American teams are in one group for the World Cup 2022 qualifiers with the teams playing each other home and away to determine the teams that will qualify for the tournament proper via the group format. To this effect, each team will play 18 games, which already started in October 2020 and will run until March 2022.

Every team that takes part in the group stages of the World Cup has to go through a qualifying round ahead of the WC tournament. The qualifying tournaments of Asia, Africa, America are already in action whereas due to the Covid-10 pandemic, the European part of the qualification tournament is going to be played later in 2021. There will be a total of 13 slots for the European countries and 55 nations will compete to secure their place in the tournament.

The preliminary draw of the qualifying matches has taken place on the 7th of November in Zurich. Keeping in mind the covid-19 pandemic situations, the event was not held in the same manner that it used to be. It was a virtual event where all the representatives were present online.