The 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Europe were kicked off early this morning with a draw held in Zurich (Switland). The 55 teams participating in this qualifying round is a new feature, but besides that, there are many other notable statistics.
The homepage of the World Football Federation (FIFA) has compiled notable statistics about the European qualifiers.
1908: This is the year FIFA was established, with 7 teams in Europe as members from the beginning including Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. England and Italy joined in 1905, and defending world champions France joined a little later (1908).
807 There were a total of 807 goals scored in 278 matches in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in Europe - an average of 2.9 goals/match (slightly higher than the previous qualifiers, with 2.79 goals/match).
296 The Netherlands scored the most goals in the qualifying round of Luc Gia Gia. The Golden team also has the most wins of any opponent in Europe, with 82 out of 125 matches.
55 The 2018 World Cup qualifiers in Europe set a record for the number of participating teams - 54 (at that time, Russia was the host so they did not have to play in the qualifiers). That record was broken this time, with 55 teams on their journey to Qatar.
Also with the number 55, the Italian team has never lost to home fans in the qualifying round (won 46, drew 9). In total, the Northern team has only lost 9 out of 109 World Cup qualifiers.
43 Belgium and Germany both scored 43 goals in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers (an average of 4.3 goals/match).
30 Cristiano Ronaldo is the top scorer in the qualifiers in Europe (30 goals in 28 matches). In the 2018 World Cup qualifiers alone, he scored 15 goals.
22 Nearly half of the 55 teams participating in this qualifying round have never participated in the World Cup finals.
16 Robert Lewandowski broke the record for goals in a World Cup qualifiers, scoring 16 goals for the Polish national team on the journey to Russia in 2018.
10 Germany is the only team to win all 10 matches in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. No team had that achievement in 2014.
Montenegro is the team with the same number of wins (10), draws (10), and losses in the last 30 matches in the qualifiers.
Hungary was the first team to score 10 or more goals in the World Cup qualifiers, when they beat Greece 11-1 on 25/3/33.1938.
4 - 4 teams qualified for the 2018 World Cup with unbeaten achievements: Belgium, England, Germany, Spain. Before that, the 2014 World Cup qualifiers had 7 unbeaten teams.
Lieutenant's 4-0 victory over Luxembourg in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers on 13 October 2004 was their first away win, also their first World Cup qualifying win and their biggest win in their history.
3 Luxembourg, Portugal and the Republic of Ailen are the 3 teams that have participated in all 20 World Cup qualifiers. The trip to Qatar was their 21st.
England and Spain only conceded 3 goals in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
2 The 2018 World Cup qualifiers are the first time Gibraltar and Kosovo have participated. In this qualifying round, Europe does not have any teams participating for the first time.
1 - San Marino got his first point in the World Cup qualifiers when they drew 0-0 with Turkey in March 1993. That was their fifth match in the qualifiers. Since then, they have won just one more point in 61 games.
0 Spain have not lost a match in the last 6 World Cup qualifiers. Since their most recent loss on March 31, 1993 (0-1 to Denmark), their unbeaten streak in the qualifiers to date is 63 matches.
