On Friday, Concacaf confirmed the updated schedule for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The new calendar includes a number of international windows extended by an additional day to allow for three matches to be played.
The original qualifying schedule was published following the official draw in August, but the competition was postponed due to the ongoing global health pandemic. For the final round, four of the five international windows will be packed with three matches each, making the qualifying road even more challenging.
While the schedule shifted, the sequence of opponents - which was determined for each nation during the draw - remained the same.
| Matchday | Date | Home | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sept. 2021 | Group A/F Winner | USA |
| 2 | Sept. 2021 | USA | Group B/E Winner |
| 3 | Sept. 2021 | Honduras | USA |
| 4 | Oct. 2021 | USA | Jamaica |
| 5 | Octt. 2021 | Group C/D Winner | USA |
| 6 | Oct. 2021 | USA | Costa Rica |
| 7 | Nov. 2021 | USA | USA |
| 8 | Nov. 2021 | Jamaica | USA |
| 9 | Jan. 2022 | USA | Group A/F Winner |
| 10 | Jan. 2022 | Group B/E Winner | USA |
| 11 | Jan. 2022 | USA | Honduras |
| 12 | March 2022 | Mexico | USA |
| 13 | March 2022 | USA | Group C/D Winner |
| 14 | March 2022 | Costa Rica | USA |
While the USA, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Honduras and Mexico are already locked in for the Final Round, the remaining 30 Concacaf nations will compete through two rounds to determine the remaining three teams who will take part in the “Octagonal”. The draw to determine groups for the First Round also took place back in August.
Scheduled for the March and part of the June 2021 FIFA windows, the First Round will feature six groups (Groups A-F) of five teams each playing four matches (two home, two away).
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D | Group E | Group F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Salvador | Canada | Curacao | Panama | Haiti | Trinidad & Tobago |
| Antigua & Barbuda | Suriname | Guatemala | Dominican Republic | Nicaragua | St. Kitts & Nevis |
| Grenada | Bermuda | St. Vincent & the Grenadines | Barbados | Belize | Guyana |
| Montserrat | Cayman Islands | Cuba | Dominica | St. Lucia | Puerto Rico |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | Aruba | British Virgin Islands | Anguilla | Turks and Caicos | Bahamas |
The winners of each group will then advance to the Second Round where they will compete in a home-and-away playoff during the second half of the June 2021 FIFA window to complete the eight-team Final Round.
The matchups for the playoffs were pre-determined and the winner of each was also assigned a corresponding number for the Final Round schedule: Group A winner vs. Group F winner (Team 3); Group B winner vs. Group E winner (Team 1); Group C winner vs. Group D winner (Team 5).
