[note 2] Mongolian player Norjmoogiin Tsedenbal netted the first goal, while the last one was scored by Joel Campbell of Costa Rica.

[1][better source needed] The qualification process suffered numerous postponements from March 2020 onwards due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[3] For the first time after the initial two tournaments of 1930 and 1934, the World Cup would be hosted by a country whose national team had never played a finals match before.

[6] The committee decided that the same allocation used in 2006, 2010, and 2014 would be kept for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments:[7] North Korea withdrew from the AFC second qualifying round for safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The WADA ruling allowed athletes who were not involved in doping or the coverup to compete, but prohibited the use of the Russian flag and anthem at major international sporting events.

[10] An appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was filed,[11] but WADA's decision was upheld though reduced to a two-year ban.

[15] On 28 February, however, in accordance with a recommendation by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), FIFA suspended the participation of Russia.

[24] CONCACAF initially announced on 10 July 2019 a restructured format for the qualifiers of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

[25] However, on 25 June 2020, following FIFA's decision to postpone the September international window because of the pandemic, CONCACAF noted that "the challenges presented by postponements to the football calendar, and the incomplete FIFA rankings cycle in our confederation, means our current World Cup qualifying process has been compromised and will be changed.

Qualifying was expected to begin in September 2020,[30] but the FIFA international window in that month for the OFC was postponed by the pandemic.

[32] After continued delays,[33][34] by September 2021 the OFC felt it was "not possible at this time to organise a qualifying competition within the Oceania region" and it was instead staged in Qatar (host country of the World Cup) in March 2022.

[38] Earlier on 18 June, the UEFA Executive Committee approved the draw regulations for the qualifying group stage.