FIFA World Cup 2022 is almost upon us and the new FIFA World Rankings are out, which gives a clear idea of the seeded teams qualified for Qatar 2022.
The United States received a boost for the World Cup draw and Canada took a hit in Thursday's updated FIFA rankings. The Americans, who failed to qualify for the last World Cup, will be in Pot 2 after being ranked 15th in the world. Canada, which won the North American qualifying group and will play at the tournament for the first time in 36 years, missed a chance for a rankings boost by losing at Panama 1-0 in its final qualifier. Instead, Canada will be among the lowest-seeded teams in Pot 4.
The eight groups for the tournament in Qatar will be drawn Friday from four pots. Qatar gets the top-seeded slot given to the World Cup host nation despite being ranked No. 51. The other top-seeded teams are Brazil, Belgium, defending champions France, Argentina,ย England, Spain, and Portugal.
Brazil took over as the No. 1 team from Belgium, the first change as the top in three years. Sixth-ranked Italy is the only team from the top 10 that failed to qualify.
Besides the United States, Pot 2 includes Mexico, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Uruguay, Switzerland and Croatia, while in Pot 3 it's Senegal, Iran, Japan, Morocco, Serbia, Poland, South Korea and Tunisia.