2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group A

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 A, which enabled the 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts to play centralised friendlies against these countries on their "spare" match dates. However, these friendlies did not count in the qualifying group standings. Qatar played their "home" matches in Europe in order to allow short travel times for their opponents.^[4][5]

Standings

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|team_order=SRB, POR, IRL, LUX, AZE

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|match_POR_SRB=1–2 |match_POR_IRL=2–1 |match_POR_LUX=5–0 |match_POR_AZE=1–0

|match_SRB_POR=2–2 |match_SRB_IRL=3–2 |match_SRB_LUX=4–1 |match_SRB_AZE=3–1

|match_IRL_POR=0–0 |match_IRL_SRB=1–1 |match_IRL_LUX=0–1 |match_IRL_AZE=1–1

|match_LUX_POR=1–3 |match_LUX_SRB=0–1 |match_LUX_IRL=0–3 |match_LUX_AZE=2–1

|match_AZE_POR=0–3 |match_AZE_SRB=1–2 |match_AZE_IRL=0–3 |match_AZE_LUX=[[2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group A#poo v Azerbaijan

|name_POR=  Portugal |short_POR=  |name_SRB=  Serbia |short_SRB=  |name_IRL=  Republic of Ireland |short_IRL=  |name_LUX=  Luxembourg |short_LUX=  |name_AZE=  Azerbaijan |short_AZE= 

|res_col_header=Q |result1=WC |result2=PO |col_WC=green1 |text_WC=Qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup |col_PO=blue1 |text_PO=Advance to play-offs }}

Matches

The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 8 December 2020, the day following the draw.^[6][7][8] Times are CET/CEST,^{[note 1]} as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

24 March 2021 (2021-03-24)

20:45

Portugal	1–0	Azerbaijan
Medvedev   36' (o.g.)	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)

Juventus Stadium, Turin (Italy)

Attendance: 0^{[9][note 2]}

Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany)

24 March 2021 (2021-03-24)

20:45

Serbia	3–2	Republic of Ireland
Vlahović   40' A. Mitrović   69', 75'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	Browne   18' Collins   86'

Red Star Stadium, Belgrade

Attendance: 0^{[10][note 2]}

Referee: Davide Massa (Italy)

---

27 March 2021 (2021-03-27)

20:45 (19:45 UTC±0)

Republic of Ireland	0–1	Luxembourg
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	Rodrigues   85'

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Attendance: 0^{[11][note 2]}

Referee: Fran Jović (Croatia)

27 March 2021 (2021-03-27)

20:45

Serbia	2–2	Portugal
A. Mitrović   46' Kostić   60'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	Jota   11', 36'

Red Star Stadium, Belgrade

Attendance: 0^{[12][note 2]}

Referee: Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)

---

30 March 2021 (2021-03-30)

18:00 (20:00 UTC+4)

Azerbaijan	1–2	Serbia
Mahmudov   59' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	A. Mitrović   16', 81'

Baku Olympic Stadium, Baku

Attendance: 0^{[13][note 2]}

Referee: Roi Reinshreiber (Israel)

30 March 2021 (2021-03-30)

20:45

Luxembourg	1–3	Portugal
Rodrigues   30'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	Jota   45+2' Ronaldo   51' Palhinha   80'

Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg

Attendance: 0^{[14][note 2]}

Referee: Sergey Ivanov (Russia)

---

1 September 2021 (2021-09-01)

20:45

Luxembourg	2–1	Azerbaijan
Pinto   8' Rodrigues   28' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	Mahmudov   67'

Stade de Luxembourg, Luxembourg^[15]

Attendance: 2,000^[16]

Referee: Irfan Peljto (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

1 September 2021 (2021-09-01)

20:45 (19:45 UTC+1)

Portugal	2–1	Republic of Ireland
Ronaldo   89', 90+6'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	Egan   45'

Estádio Algarve, Faro/Loulé

Attendance: 7,831^[17]

Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia)

---

4 September 2021 (2021-09-04)

18:00 (17:00 UTC+1)

Republic of Ireland	1–1	Azerbaijan
Duffy   87'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	Mahmudov   45+1'

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Attendance: 21,287^[18]

Referee: Jérôme Brisard (France)

4 September 2021 (2021-09-04)

18:00

Serbia	4–1	Luxembourg
A. Mitrović   22', 35' Chanot   82' (o.g.) Milenković   90+6'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	O. Thill   77'

Red Star Stadium, Belgrade

Attendance: 10,078^[19]

Referee: Halil Umut Meler (Turkey)

---

7 September 2021 (2021-09-07)

18:00 (20:00 UTC+4)

Azerbaijan	0–3	Portugal
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	B. Silva   26' A. Silva   31' Jota   75'

Baku Olympic Stadium, Baku

Attendance: 20,574^[20]

Referee: Marco Guida (Italy)

7 September 2021 (2021-09-07)

20:45 (19:45 UTC+1)

Republic of Ireland	1–1	Serbia
Milenković   87' (o.g.)	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	Milinković-Savić   20'

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Attendance: 25,415^[21]

Referee: José María Sánchez (Spain)

---

9 October 2021 (2021-10-09)

18:00 (20:00 UTC+4)

Azerbaijan	0–3	Republic of Ireland
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	Robinson   7', 39' Ogbene   90'

Baku Olympic Stadium, Baku

Attendance: 6,852^[22]

Referee: Espen Eskås (Norway)

9 October 2021 (2021-10-09)

20:45

Luxembourg	0–1	Serbia
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	Vlahović   68'

Stade de Luxembourg, Luxembourg^[15]

Attendance: 2,000^[23]

Referee: Willie Collum (Scotland)

---

12 October 2021 (2021-10-12)

20:45 (19:45 UTC+1)

Portugal	5–0	Luxembourg
Ronaldo   8' (pen.), 13' (pen.), 87' Fernandes   18' Palhinha   69'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)

Estádio Algarve, Faro/Loulé

Attendance: 18,553^[24]

Referee: Benoît Bastien (France)

12 October 2021 (2021-10-12)

20:45

Serbia	3–1	Azerbaijan
Vlahović   30' (pen.), 53' Tadić   83' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	Mahmudov   45+2'

Red Star Stadium, Belgrade

Attendance: 5,890^[25]

Referee: Erik Lambrechts (Belgium)

---

11 November 2021 (2021-11-11)

18:00 (21:00 UTC+4)

Azerbaijan	1–3	Luxembourg
Salahli   82'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	Rodrigues   67', 90+1' S. Thill   78'

Baku Olympic Stadium, Baku

Attendance: 2,986^[26]

Referee: Manuel Schüttengruber (Austria)

11 November 2021 (2021-11-11)

20:45 (19:45 UTC±0)

Republic of Ireland	0–0	Portugal
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Attendance: 50,373^[27]

Referee: Jesús Gil Manzano (Spain)

---

14 November 2021 (2021-11-14)

20:45

Luxembourg	0–3	Republic of Ireland
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	Duffy   67' Ogbene   75' Robinson   88'

Stade de Luxembourg, Luxembourg^[15]

Attendance: 9,268^[28]

Referee: Tamás Bognár (Hungary)

14 November 2021 (2021-11-14)

20:45 (19:45 UTC±0)

Portugal	1–2	Serbia
Sanches   2'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	Tadić   33' A. Mitrović   90'

Estádio da Luz, Lisbon

Attendance: 58,873^[29]

Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy)

Goalscorers

There were 59 goals scored in 20 matches, for an average of 2.95 goals per match.

8 goals

•   Aleksandar Mitrović

6 goals

•   Cristiano Ronaldo

5 goals

•   Gerson Rodrigues

4 goals

•   Emin Mahmudov
•   Diogo Jota
•   Dušan Vlahović

3 goals

•   Callum Robinson

2 goals

•   João Palhinha
•   Shane Duffy
•   Chiedozie Ogbene
•   Dušan Tadić

1 goal

•   Azer Salahli
•   Mica Pinto
•   Olivier Thill
•   Sébastien Thill
•   Bruno Fernandes
•   Renato Sanches
•   André Silva
•   Bernardo Silva
•   Alan Browne
•   James Collins
•   John Egan
•   Filip Kostić
•   Nikola Milenković
•   Sergej Milinković-Savić

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:^[30]

• 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

1. CET (UTC+1) for matches until 27 March and from 31 October (matchday 1–2 and 9–10), and CEST (UTC+2) for matches from 28 March to 30 October 2021 (matchday 3–8).
2. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the match was played behind closed doors.

References

1. "UEFA preliminary competition for the FIFA World Cup 2022: Draw procedures" (PDF). FIFA. 22 October 2020. (PDF) from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
2. "FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition – Draw Results" (PDF). UEFA. 7 December 2020. (PDF) from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
3. "UEFA preliminary competition format for the FIFA World Cup 2022" (PDF). FIFA. 4 December 2020. (PDF) from the original on 15 December 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
4. "Group A matches with Qatar". UEFA. 11 December 2020. from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
5. "World Cup Qualifying Calendar – Group A with Qatar" (PDF). UEFA. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
6. "European Qualifiers for 2022 World Cup: all the fixtures". UEFA. 9 December 2020. from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
7. "Fixture List – European Qualifiers 2020–2022: FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition" (PDF). UEFA. 8 December 2020. (PDF) from the original on 8 December 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
8. "Fixture List by Group – European Qualifiers 2020–2022: FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition" (PDF). UEFA. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
9. "Portugal vs. Azerbaijan" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 24 March 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
10. "Serbia vs. Republic of Ireland" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 24 March 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
11. "Republic of Ireland vs. Luxembourg" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 27 March 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
12. "Serbia vs. Portugal" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 27 March 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
13. "Azerbaijan vs. Serbia" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
14. "Luxembourg vs. Portugal" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
15. "Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Football - Actualités". Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Football. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
16. "Luxembourg vs. Azerbaijan" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 1 September 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
17. "Portugal vs. Republic of Ireland" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 1 September 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
18. "Republic of Ireland vs. Azerbaijan" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 4 September 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
19. "Serbia vs. Luxembourg" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 4 September 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
20. "Azerbaijan vs. Portugal" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
21. "Republic of Ireland vs. Serbia" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
22. "Azerbaijan vs. Republic of Ireland" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 9 October 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
23. "Luxembourg vs. Serbia" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 9 October 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
24. "Portugal vs. Luxembourg" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 12 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
25. "Serbia vs. Azerbaijan" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 12 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
26. "Azerbaijan vs. Luxembourg" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 11 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
27. "Republic of Ireland vs. Portugal" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 11 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
28. "Luxembourg vs. Republic of Ireland" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 14 November 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
29. "Portugal vs. Serbia" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 14 November 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
30. "Regulations FIFA World Cup 2022 Preliminary Competition" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 2020. (PDF) from the original on 7 October 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.

External links

• Official FIFA World Cup website
• Qualifiers – Europe, FIFA.com
• European Qualifiers, UEFA.com