2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group A
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The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group A 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 A consisted of five teams: Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland and Serbia.[2] The teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format.[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. However, these friendlies did not count in the qualifying group standings. Also, Qatar played their "home" matches in Europe in order to allow short travel times for their opponents.[4][5][6]
Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Serbia |
8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 9 | +9 | 20 | Qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup | — | 2–2 | 3–2 | 4–1 | 3–1 | |
| 2 | Portugal |
8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 6 | +11 | 17 | Advance to play-offs | 1–2 | — | 2–1 | 5–0 | 1–0 | |
| 3 | Republic of Ireland |
8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 8 | +3 | 9 | 1–1 | 0–0 | — | 0–1 | 1–1 | ||
| 4 | Luxembourg |
8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 18 | −10 | 9 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 0–3 | — | 2–1 | ||
| 5 | Azerbaijan |
8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 18 | −13 | 1 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 1–3 | — |
Matches
The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 8 December 2020, the day following the draw.[7][8][9] Times are CET/CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
| Serbia | 3–2 | Republic of Ireland |
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Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA) |
| Serbia | 2–2 | Portugal |
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| Azerbaijan | 1–2 | Serbia |
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| Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA) |
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| Portugal | 2–1 | Republic of Ireland |
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| Republic of Ireland | 1–1 | Azerbaijan |
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| Serbia | 4–1 | Luxembourg |
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| Serbia | 3–1 | Azerbaijan |
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| Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA) |
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| Portugal | 1–2 | Serbia |
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Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA) |
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Goalscorers
There were 59 goals scored in 20 matches, for an average of 2.95 goals per match.
8 goals
6 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 own goal
Maksim Medvedev (against Portugal)
Maxime Chanot (against Serbia)
Nikola Milenković (against Republic of Ireland)
Discipline
A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:[31]
- 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azerbaijan | Hojjat Haghverdi |  vs Portugal (7 September 2021) vs Serbia (12 October 2021) | vs Luxembourg (11 November 2021) |
| Anton Krivotsyuk | vs Luxembourg (1 September 2021) vs Republic of Ireland (4 September 2021) | vs Portugal (7 September 2021) | |
| Luxembourg | Dirk Carlson | vs Serbia (9 October 2021) vs Azerbaijan (11 November 2021) | vs Republic of Ireland (14 November 2021) |
| Maxime Chanot |  vs Portugal (30 March 2021) | vs Azerbaijan (1 September 2021) | |
| Christopher Martins | vs Azerbaijan (1 September 2021) vs Serbia (4 September 2021) | vs Serbia (9 October 2021) | |
| Gerson Rodrigues | vs Serbia (4 September 2021) | ||
| Portugal | Bruno Fernandes | vs Azerbaijan (24 March 2021) vs Serbia (27 March 2021) | vs Luxembourg (30 March 2021) |
| Nuno Mendes | vs Azerbaijan (7 September 2021) vs Luxembourg (12 October 2021) | vs Republic of Ireland (11 November 2021) | |
| Pepe | vs Republic of Ireland (11 November 2021) | vs Serbia (14 November 2021) | |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | vs Serbia (27 March 2021) vs Republic of Ireland (1 September 2021) | vs Azerbaijan (7 September 2021) | |
| Serbia | Filip Đuričić | vs Republic of Ireland (7 September 2021) vs Luxembourg (9 October 2021) | vs Azerbaijan (12 October 2021) |
| Nikola Milenković |  vs Portugal (27 March 2021) | vs Azerbaijan (30 March 2021) | |
| Strahinja Pavlović | vs Republic of Ireland (24 March 2021) vs Luxembourg (9 October 2021) | vs Azerbaijan (12 October 2021) | |
| Republic of Ireland | Alan Browne | vs Azerbaijan (4 September 2021) vs Serbia (7 September 2021) | vs Azerbaijan (9 October 2021) |
| Jayson Molumby |
Notes
- Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the match was played behind closed doors.