2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group C
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The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group C 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 C consisted of five teams: Bulgaria, Italy, Lithuania, Northern Ireland and Switzerland.[2] The teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format.[3]
The group winners, Switzerland, qualified directly for the World Cup finals, while the runners-up, Italy, advanced to the second round (play-offs).
Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
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 |
 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Switzerland |
8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 2 | +13 | 18 | Qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup | — | 0–0 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 1–0 | |
| 2 | Italy |
8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 13 | 2 | +11 | 16 | Advance to play-offs | 1–1 | — | 2–0 | 1–1 | 5–0 | |
| 3 | Northern Ireland |
8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 9 | 0–0 | 0–0 | — | 0–0 | 1–0 | ||
| 4 | Bulgaria |
8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 14 | −8 | 8 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 2–1 | — | 1–0 | ||
| 5 | Lithuania |
8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 19 | −15 | 3 | 0–4 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 3–1 | — |
Matches
The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 8 December 2020, the day following the draw.[4][5][6] Times are CET/CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
| Italy | 1–1 | Bulgaria |
|---|---|---|
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Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA) |
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| Italy | 5–0 | Lithuania |
|---|---|---|
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Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA) |
| Bulgaria | 2–1 | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|
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Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA) |
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| Lithuania | 0–4 | Switzerland |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA) |
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| Italy | 1–1 | Switzerland |
|---|---|---|
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Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA) |
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Goalscorers
There were 44 goals scored in 20 matches, for an average of 2.2 goals per match.
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Ivaylo Chochev- Atanas Iliev
Andrea Belotti- Domenico Berardi
- Federico Chiesa
- Manuel Locatelli
- Giacomo Raspadori
- Stefano Sensi
Rolandas Baravykas- Justas Lasickas
Daniel Ballard- Shayne Lavery
- Paddy McNair
Christian Fassnacht- Remo Freuler
- Mario Gavranović
- Cedric Itten
- Noah Okafor
- Haris Seferovic
- Xherdan Shaqiri
- Renato Steffen
- Rubén Vargas
- Silvan Widmer
1 own goal
- Benas Šatkus (against Northern Ireland)
- Edgaras Utkus (against Italy)
Discipline
A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:[29]
- 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bulgaria | Valentin Antov |  vs Northern Ireland (31 March 2021) vs Lithuania (9 October 2021) | vs Northern Ireland (12 October 2021) |
| Atanas Iliev | vs Northern Ireland (31 March 2021) vs Lithuania (5 September 2021) | vs Lithuania (9 October 2021) | |
| Nikolay Mihaylov |  vs Lithuania (5 September 2021) | ||
| Georgi Yomov | vs Italy (2 September 2021) vs Lithuania (9 October 2021) | vs Northern Ireland (12 October 2021) | |
| Italy | Manuel Locatelli | vs Bulgaria (28 March 2021) vs Lithuania (31 March 2021) | vs Bulgaria (2 September 2021) |
| Lithuania | Fedor Černych | vs Switzerland (28 March 2021) vs Bulgaria (5 September 2021) | vs Italy (8 September 2021) |
| Domantas Šimkus | vs Italy (31 March 2021) vs Bulgaria (5 September 2021) | ||
| Egidijus Vaitkūnas | vs Italy (31 March 2021) vs Bulgaria (9 October 2021) | vs Switzerland (12 October 2021) | |
| Northern Ireland | Jamal Lewis |  vs Switzerland (9 October 2021) | vs Bulgaria (12 October 2021) |
| Paddy McNair | vs Bulgaria (31 March 2021) vs Lithuania (2 September 2021) | vs Switzerland (8 September 2021) | |
| George Saville | vs Italy (25 March 2021) vs Bulgaria (31 March 2021) | vs Lithuania (2 September 2021) | |
| Switzerland | Manuel Akanji | vs Bulgaria (25 March 2021) vs Italy (12 November 2021) | vs Bulgaria (15 November 2021) |
| Fabian Frei | vs Italy (5 September 2021) vs Northern Ireland (8 September 2021) | vs Northern Ireland (9 October 2021) | |
| Remo Freuler | vs Spain in UEFA Euro 2020 (2 July 2021) | vs Italy (5 September 2021)[30] | |
| Denis Zakaria | vs Northern Ireland (8 September 2021) vs Northern Ireland (9 October 2021) | vs Lithuania (12 October 2021) |
Notes
- Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the match was played behind closed doors.