The play-offs determined the final three European teams that joined the group winners at the World Cup in Qatar.
Based on the results from the qualifying group stage, the six best-ranked teams were seeded, while the bottom four were unseeded in the semi-final draw.
[6][7][8][2][9] The following procedure was applied in the draw:[3][10] For political reasons related to the Russo-Ukrainian War, Russia and Ukraine could not be drawn into the same play-off path.
[18] By that point, the football associations of the other three teams in the Path (Czech Republic, Poland, and Sweden) had refused to play any matches against Russia, regardless of location,[19][20][21] a stance to which they remained committed following FIFA's initial decision.
In the interest of preventing further fixture congestion, the other semi-final match between Wales and Austria would go ahead as scheduled in March.
[30][31] As part of UEFA's scheduling, the losing semi-finalists of each path played a friendly match against each other on the day of the play-off finals.
3 goals2 goals1 goalA player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:[4] On 17 January 2022, following a UEFA request, FIFA announced the expiration of yellow cards received during the qualifying group stage, thus preventing suspensions in the play-off finals due to yellow cards received in the semi-finals.
However, yellow card suspensions accumulated at the end of the qualifying group stage were still carried forward to the play-offs.