2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group H
UEFA association football competition
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The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group H was one of the ten UEFA groups in the World Cup qualification tournament to decide which teams would qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals tournament in Qatar.[1] Group H consisted of six teams: Croatia, Cyprus, Malta, Russia, Slovakia and Slovenia.[2] The teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format.[3]
The group winners, Croatia, qualified directly for the World Cup finals, while the runners-up, Russia, advanced to the second round (play-offs), but they were later suspended by FIFA due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[4]
Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
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 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Croatia |
10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 4 | +17 | 23 | Qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup | — | 1–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | |
| 2 | Russia[a] |
10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 6 | +13 | 22 | Advance to play-offs | 0–0 | — | 1–0 | 2–1 | 6–0 | 2–0 | |
| 3 | Slovakia |
10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 17 | 10 | +7 | 14 | 0–1 | 2–1 | — | 2–2 | 2–0 | 2–2 | ||
| 4 | Slovenia |
10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 12 | +1 | 14 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | — | 2–1 | 1–0 | ||
| 5 | Cyprus |
10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 21 | −17 | 5 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | — | 2–2 | ||
| 6 | Malta |
10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 30 | −21 | 5 | 1–7 | 1–3 | 0–6 | 0–4 | 3–0 | — |
- On 28 February 2022, FIFA suspended Russia from international competitions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[4]
Matches
The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 8 December 2020, the day following the draw.[5][6][7] Times are CET/CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
| Russia | 2–1 | Slovenia |
|---|---|---|
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Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA) |
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| Slovenia | 1–1 | Slovakia |
|---|---|---|
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Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA) |
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| Cyprus | 0–2 | Russia |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA) |
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| Cyprus | 2–2 | Malta |
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| Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA) |
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| Croatia | 1–0 | Russia |
|---|---|---|
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Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA) |
| Slovenia | 2–1 | Cyprus |
|---|---|---|
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Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA) |
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Goalscorers
There were 83 goals scored in 30 matches, for an average of 2.77 goals per match.
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Josip Brekalo- Marcelo Brozović
- Duje Ćaleta-Car
- Joško Gvardiol
- Nikola Vlašić
Andronikos Kakoullis- Fotis Papoulis
- Ioannis Pittas
- Pieros Sotiriou
Jurgen Degabriele- Luke Gambin
- Zach Muscat
- Alexander Satariano
Zelimkhan Bakayev- Igor Diveyev
- Georgi Dzhikiya
- Andrei Mostovoy
- Aleksandr Sobolev
- Aleksei Sutormin
- Anton Zabolotny
- Rifat Zhemaletdinov
Róbert Boženík- Vernon De Marco
- Lukáš Haraslín
- Martin Koscelník
- Róbert Mak
Adam Gnezda Čerin- Miha Mevlja
- Benjamin Šeško
- Andraž Šporar
- Petar Stojanović
1 own goal
- Marcelo Brozović (against Malta)
- Fyodor Kudryashov (against Croatia)
- Milan Škriniar (against Russia)
Discipline
A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:[38]
- Receiving a red card (red card suspensions could be extended for serious offences)
- Receiving two yellow cards in two different matches (yellow card suspensions were carried forward to the play-offs, but not the finals or any other future international matches)
The following suspensions were served during the qualifying matches:
| Team | Player | Offence(s) | Suspended for match(es) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Croatia | Borna Barišić |  vs Slovenia (24 March 2021) vs Slovakia (11 October 2021) | vs Malta (11 November 2021) |
| Mateo Kovačić | vs Cyprus (27 March 2021) vs Cyprus (8 October 2021) | vs Slovakia (11 October 2021) | |
| Marko Rog |  vs Portugal in 2020–21 UEFA Nations League (17 November 2020) | vs Slovenia (24 March 2021)[39] | |
| Domagoj Vida | vs Slovenia (24 March 2021) vs Malta (30 March 2021) | vs Russia (1 September 2021) | |
| Cyprus | Kostakis Artymatas | vs Russia (4 September 2021) vs Croatia (8 October 2021) | vs Malta (11 October 2021) |
| Andreas Avraam | vs Slovakia (7 September 2021) vs Croatia (8 October 2021) | ||
| Constantinos Soteriou | vs Malta (1 September 2021) | vs Russia (4 September 2021) | |
| Malta | Ryan Camenzuli | vs Slovakia (27 March 2021) vs Russia (7 September 2021) | vs Slovenia (8 October 2021) |
| Joseph Mbong | vs Cyprus (1 September 2021) vs Slovenia (8 October 2021) | vs Cyprus (11 October 2021) | |
| Enrico Pepe | vs Slovenia (4 September 2021) vs Croatia (11 November 2021) | vs Slovakia (14 November 2021) | |
| Alexander Satariano | vs Slovenia (4 September 2021) vs Slovenia (8 October 2021) | vs Cyprus (11 October 2021) | |
| Russia | Aleksei Miranchuk | vs Slovenia (27 March 2021) vs Malta (7 September 2021) | vs Slovakia (8 October 2021) |
| Rifat Zhemaletdinov | vs Malta (24 March 2021) vs Slovakia (30 March 2021) | vs Croatia (1 September 2021) | |
| Slovakia | Dávid Hancko | vs Cyprus (7 September 2021) vs Croatia (11 October 2021) | vs Slovenia (11 November 2021) |
| Juraj Kucka | vs Russia (8 October 2021) vs Croatia (11 October 2021) | ||
| Peter Pekarík | vs Croatia (4 September 2021) vs Slovenia (11 November 2021) | vs Malta (14 November 2021) | |
| Ivan Schranz | vs Slovenia (1 September 2021) vs Croatia (11 October 2021) | vs Slovenia (11 November 2021) | |
| Slovenia | Jaka Bijol | vs Croatia (7 September 2021) vs Russia (11 October 2021) | vs Slovakia (11 November 2021) |
| Miha Blažič | vs Slovakia (11 November 2021) | vs Cyprus (14 November 2021) | |
| Adam Gnezda Čerin | vs Slovakia (1 September 2021) vs Russia (11 October 2021) | vs Slovakia (11 November 2021) | |
| Josip Iličić | vs Cyprus (30 March 2021) vs Slovakia (1 September 2021) | vs Malta (4 September 2021) | |
| Jasmin Kurtić | vs Croatia (24 March 2021) vs Cyprus (30 March 2021) | vs Slovakia (1 September 2021) | |
| vs Malta (4 September 2021) vs Russia (11 October 2021) | vs Slovakia (11 November 2021) | ||
| Miha Mevlja | vs Croatia (24 March 2021) vs Russia (27 March 2021) | vs Cyprus (30 March 2021) |
Notes
- Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the match was played behind closed doors.