Of the 23 nations involved, the 14 lowest-ranked teams according to the April edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking will participate in single-leg play-offs ahead of the tournament, which will be held later this year.
The play-offs were decided according to the rankings, as follows:
- Oman (FIFA World Ranking: 80) vs Somalia (197)
- Lebanon (93) vs Djibouti (183)
- Jordan (95) vs South Sudan (169)
- Bahrain (99) vs Kuwait (148)
- Mauritania (101) vs Yemen (145)
- Palestine (104) vs Comoros (131)
- Libya (119) vs Sudan (123)
The seven winning teams will join the nine highest-ranked teams who have already qualified for the tournament: host nation Qatar (58), Tunisia (26), Algeria (33), Morocco (34), Egypt (46), Saudi Arabia (65), Iraq (68), the United Arab Emirates (73) and Syria (79).
The tournament will consist of a group stage and knockout rounds. The 16 teams will be split into four groups of four, with the top two from each progressing to the quarterfinals. Matches will be played at six 2022 FIFA World Cup – Qatar tournament venues.