The easiest and hardest groups

When the World Cup group stage draw for the 2022 tournament in Qatar was made back in April, it threw up some excellent matchups.

Top seeds like Brazil, England and Argentina discovered their opponents as teams look to claim the trophy France won in 2018 in Russia.

Which teams are staring down the barrel of a Group of Death? Who are already plotting their path to the final from the last 16? Here are the easiest and hardest groups at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

FIFA world rankings – ie ‘(1)’ – are correct as of 25 August 2022.

Easiest 2022 World Cup groups

Group A

Qatar (48), Ecuador (44), Senegal (18), the Netherlands (8)

Hosts Qatar were in many ways the false seed in Pot 1, given they have a lack of football history and are only ranked 48th in the world.

Ecuador came through CONMEBOL qualifying by finishing in the top four ahead of nations like Peru, Colombia and Chile, while Senegal defeated Egypt on penalties in a play-off to book their spot.

The Netherlands are the highest ranked team and are highly fancied to take first place, though they previously faltered at the World Cup and didn’t qualify for the previous tournament in Russia.

Group H

Portugal (9), Ghana (60), Uruguay (13), South Korea (28)

Having only scraped through to the World Cup via the play-offs, every Portuguese player and fan must have been giddy with delight at their World Cup draw.

The lowest-ranked side in Pot 1 Qatar aside drew Uruguay – a side they did lose to at the last World Cup – as their only top 20 opposition. Ghana are comfortably the lowest-ranked team in Qatar and have only won one game in 2022, while South Korea haven’t made it out of the group stage since 2010.

Portugal have a number of ageing stars who will be playing in their last World Cup, though the presence of a number of exciting youngsters could power them towards the later rounds of the knockout stages.

Group D

France (4), Australia (39), Denmark (10), Tunisia (30)

France and Denmark are the heavy favourites to qualify from Group D ahead of Tunisia and Australia.

Tunisia were the lowest ranked team in Pot 3 and Australia qualified through an intercontinental play-off. The former have never made it out of the group stage and the Socceroos have just one last 16 appearance on their CV.

It would be a major shock if either France or Denmark missed out on the knockout stages, with both squads filled with impressive talent.

Hardest 2022 World Cup groups

Group B

England (5), Iran (22), USA (14), Wales (19)

FIFA allocated a place in Pot 4…