Soccer World Cup 2022: The capricious playoff draw: Portugal and Italy meet and one of the two will not be in the World Cup

They would face in the final of group C, with the ticket to Qatar only for the winner, provided they overcome the semifinals, against North Macedonia in the case of Italy and Turkey for Portugal

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Italy, champion of Europe, and Portugal of Cristiano Ronaldo, winner of Euro 2016, were framed in the same playoff group for Qatar 2022, so one of the two will be out of the World Cup, according to the draw held this Friday in Zurich.

Both teams would meet in the final of group C, with the ticket to Qatar only for the winner, provided they overcome the semifinals, against North Macedonia in the case of Italy and Turkey for Portugal.

All the heats will be a single match and in the case of playing the final, Portugal will have the advantage of playing at home.

Group A of the European play-offs will have Scotland-Ukraine and Wales-Austria as semifinals, while Russia-Poland and Sweden-Czech Republic will compete on track B. The matches will be played in March.

The three winning teams in each group will complete the quota of 13 representatives of European football in Qatar 2022, a tournament for which the 10 champions of each qualifying group have already qualified: Spain, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Croatia, France, England, Holland, Switzerland and Serbia.