The first qualifying round will begin in October 2020. FIFA has established Canada’s roadmap for the Qatar 2022 ™ FIFA World Cup Qualifier starting with the first round of four matches against Group B opponents Aruba, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, and Suriname.

In all, 30 Concacaf countries will compete in this first round.  Only six winning teams in the group will advance to the second round of the head-to-head knockout series.

The schedule and locations of these matches will be announced at a later date. This gave health and safety priority to any international journey.

As always, Canada Soccer will continue to closely monitor all developments of COVID-19 in consultation with Public Health Canada and relevant regulatory agencies through the Physical Health Commission. Sports Canada Soccer to ensure the safety of all players and staff.

The preliminary draw for the Qatar World Cup Qatar 2022 ™ is broadcast live on FIFA.com and TSN.ca. For the first round, four Canadian matches will be played on two FIFA international windows.

In the first international window, Canada will face Bermuda on Thursday and then the Cayman Islands on Sunday just three days later. In the second international window, Canada will face Aruba on Saturday and then Suriname three days later on Tuesday.

From the first round, the winner of Group B will play against the winner of Group E. This is in the second series of head-to-head series, with the match date and location to be announced at a later date.

The winner from that second round will advance to the Concacaf Finals of eight countries. Each country will play each opponent twice (once at home and once on the road).

Concacaf announced the new format for Qatar World Cup 2022 qualifying

Canada will need to pass three qualifiers to reach the 2022 World Cup. This follows the new qualifying format announced by Concacaf on Monday. Mexico, the US, Costa Rica, Jamaica, and Honduras were all placed into the third qualifying round. This was based on their FIFA standings, leaving the other 30 Concacaf countries to scramble for the remaining three spots.

The top three teams at the final stage will go straight to the 2022 World Cup final. The fourth-place team will advance to the knockout stages of the World Cup to face a team from another region.

Canada will be ranked second in the first round and will be predicted to qualify for the second round as the winner of their group.