[1] Group A consisted of five teams: Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland and Serbia.
[3] The group winners, Serbia, qualified directly for the World Cup finals, while the runners-up, Portugal, advanced to the second round (play-offs).
Qatar were partnered with the five-team group that does not contain a UEFA Nations League finalist, Group A, which enabled the 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts to play centralized friendlies against these countries on their "spare" match dates.
Also, Qatar played their "home" matches in Europe in order to allow short travel times for their opponents.
[4][5][6] The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 8 December 2020, the day following the draw.