The European playoff format back then was based on a two-match series in which Portugal got past Sweden in an epic duel between Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Portugal last qualified via the playoff for the 2014 World Cup. The host of the finals will be determined by a FIFA draw: The top six nations will be seeded and will host the semifinal matches. Ronaldo’s Portugal joins European champions Italy among the surprise teams that dropped into the 12-team playoff field (listed below in alphabetical order). The draw to determine the four-team brackets will take place on Nov. Only the winner of the final will make it to Qatar.

The winners advance to a single-elimination playoff final (March 28-29). The four teams in each of the three brackets will first play a single-elimination semifinal stage (March 24-25) with the losers going home.

They will be split into three brackets of four teams each and each of those three brackets will have a single World Cup ticket on the line. Twelve European nations - the 10 second-place group finishers and two teams from the UEFA Nations League group winners - will be doing battle for three World Cup spots. Ronaldo was visibly unhappy with his Portugal head coach Fernando Santos following the match: MORE: Ronaldo makes pitch invader’s day in IrelandĮuropean qualifying Group A final standings Portugal and Ronaldo fans will be praying the playoff draw is kind to them. Portugal entered the final group match in first place in Europe’s Group A, and a win or draw would have been enough for it to book its ticket to Qatar 2022. Instead, it lost to Serbia 2-1 on a late goal, finishing second and settling for a spot in the playoffs to decide whether the 36-year-old Ronaldo gets a chance to close out his legendary career with a World Cup trophy.īut the playoffs will be tricky: Portugal will have to win two separate one-off knockout matches or miss out on the World Cup for the first time since 1998. But the guarantee came up short and now he will have to sweat it out just to make what will likely be his last World Cup. Cristiano Ronaldo essentially guaranteed that Portugal would make the 2022 FIFA World Cup in its final European group-stage qualifier at home against Serbia.

Ronaldo fifa 12