Top Teams to Watch at the 2022 World Cup

2022 will be a special year for the World Cup, as it is the last year in which 32 teams will enter the finals and also it is the first World Cup to be hosted by an Arab country. Qatar, a nation that is also making its World Cup debut, will host the competition. The World Cup had to be rescheduled from June to November through December, for more favourable playing conditions.

The 2022 Qatar World Cup will definitely be a historic event, and now that the groups are drawn, fans and punters will already be making their predictions and drawing out the different possible paths for each nation as they play for the title. There are many top teams who have qualified for the 2022 World Cup, but also a surprising few who have not, such as Italy, Sweden, Egypt, and others.

Outright bets can already be found on which teams will win the World Cup, and from the odds offered on each team, fans will see which teams are tipped to win. Here are some of the strong World Cup contenders, as well as short summaries about what can be expected from them.

Who Will Win the 2022 World Cup?

France

It goes without saying that the defending champions will always be amongst the top teams in contention for winning the title. Maybe the only worry that France will have is of the World Cup champions’ curse that affected the last three winners. Italy, Spain, and Germany all became champions in 2006, 2010, and 2014, respectively, and in each of the following editions the champions were knocked out in the group stage. The curse should be broken this time around, as France have the same team as they had in the previous World Cup. There are some huge stars in the team, including the most expensive player on the planet. They are managed by long-time manager Didier Deschamps, who guided France to victory in the 2018 World Cup, 20 years after he had won it as a player, captaining the country.

England

England fans were extremely noisy at the previous World Cup and at the 2020 European Championship, and for good reason. The current roster is one of the strongest the country has seen since perhaps the team from the mid-2000s and early 2010s. The English team has never been lacking in stars, but they never seemed to be able to replicate the standards that the same players achieve at club level. Under the current manager, Gareth Southgate, the English team have reached the latter stages of the World Cup, and this year they are highly tipped to finally go all the way. 

Germany

Despite a hugely disappointing performance at the 2018 World Cup, the 2014 champions return to the competition as potential title contenders. The squad is quite mixed, as there are some veteran players who have played in multiple editions of the World Cup. The team replaced its long-time coach Joachim Lowe, for the Bayern Munich coach, Hansi Flick. Flick won the treble with Bayern Munich in his first season at the club, and plays a style of football that is highly appealing.

Brazil

The Brazilian team boasts an even more mixed team than Germany, with an age gap of over 15 years between the youngest players and oldest. 

Spain

Spain might not be the first name that comes to mind when thinking about who will win the upcoming World Cup, as the team is in a transitional phase. The stars who won the World Cup in 2010, and won two European Championships in 2008 and 2012 have all either aged or retired from international duty. The current roster is coached by Luis Enrique, the former Barcelona manager who led the Catalan side to a treble in 2015. The Spanish team have struggled in the World Cup ever since they won it last in 2010, but they showed a lot of improvement in the most recent European Championship, where they reached the semi-finals and only narrowly missed out on entering the finals when they lost on penalties to eventual winners Italy.

Belgium

Since 2014, Belgium have been a team that has been strongly predicted to win a World Cup.The team reached a third place finish in the previous competition, and they return to the World Cup under the tutelage of manager Roberto Martinez, their manager for the past 6 years.

Argentina

Two time winners Argentina came close to clinching their third World Cup win in 2014, but lost to Germany in a final that went to extra time. The Argentinian team of 2022 may not be as strong on paper as the team that reached the finals in 2014, but there are still some key players!

Portugal

Portugal achieved their best recent international trophy when they won the European Championship in 2016. The team will come to the 2022 World Cup with great confidence and high aspirations.

The Netherlands

The Dutch team has reached World Cup finals on three different occasions and lost all three of them. The close-knit relationship between players has shown on the football field and though there are a handful of stars who play in different leagues around Europe now, the squad is still a side to be reckoned with. They are managed by Louis van Gaal, who has a lot of experience managing top teams in Europe.