Prior to qualifying as host nation, Qatar had never qualified for the FIFA World Cup since the country's independence in 1971. While Qatar has been a regular participant in the continental AFC Asian Cup, the national side has always fallen short in the final stage of World Cup campaigns. By hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup and its failure to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup held in Russia, Qatar became the only nation to play in a World Cup without qualifying for it and the second nation after Italy (back in 1934) to qualify for the World Cup as hosts after being absent in all previous World Cups before.
Qatar's national team showed some improvement in their performance since the country was awarded the tournament, including winning the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, and in 2019 Copa América drew against former champions and World Cup quarter-finalists Paraguay with 2–2.
At rank 50, Qatar entered the tournament as the third lowest ranked team of the total 32; placing higher only above Saudi Arabia and Ghana. The nation performed poorly and set some upsetting records among host nations in the process. Qatar became the first host nation to lose not only its opening match, but also all three of its matches. Upon losing the second match against Senegal with a score of 3–1, Qatar became the first host nation to be eliminated from the tournament with a group game remaining after the Netherlands later on drew with Ecuador (putting both with four points, Senegal with three and Qatar with zero). Qatar also finished last in their group by failing to secure any point, making them the first host nation to have 0 points at the end of the group stage. The nation thereby became the worst performing host nation in the history of the tournament, overtaking South Africa, who had finished third in their group with 4 points and were eliminated based on goal difference.
On 14 October 2025, Qatar secured qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup after defeating the United Arab Emirates 2–1 in Doha, marking their first-ever qualification for a World Cup through the standard AFC qualification process, having previously participated in 2022 as hosts.
Record at the FIFA World Cup Overall record FIFA World Cup recordQualification recordYearResultPosition* 1930 Did not enterDid not enter 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 WithdrewWithdrew 1978 Did not qualify410339 1982420253 1986420263 199011461128 19948512228 1998116142110 2002147432413 20066303168 2010166461620 2014145541814 2018 169163514 2022 Group stage32nd3003178 7 10181 2026 Group stage 41st 3 0 1 2 2 101810353829 2030To be determinedTo be determined 2034TotalGroup stage2/236015317134672641238154
By match World CupRoundOpponentScoreResultVenueQatar scorers2022Group stage0–2LAl Khor1–3LDohaMuntari0–2LAl Khor2026Group stage1–1D Santa ClaraMuheim 0–6 L Vancouver 1–3 L Seattle Al-Haydos
Qatar 2022
Group stage
Canada/Mexico/United States 2026
Group stage
Player records Most appearances RankPlayerMatchesWorld Cups1Akram Afif62022 and 2026Boualem Khoukhi62022 and 2026Pedro Miguel62022 and 20264Homam Ahmed52022 and 2026Hassan Al-Haydos52022 and 2026Karim Boudiaf52022 and 20267Almoez Ali42022 and 2026Abdulaziz Hatem42022 and 2026Assim Madibo42022 and 2026
Goalscorers On 25 November 2022, Mohammed Muntari scored Qatar's first-ever FIFA World Cup goal, netting on home soil against Senegal in Doha.
Player Goals 2022 2026 Mohammed Muntari 1 1 Hassan Al-Haydos 1 1 Own goals 1 1 Total 3 1 2
Head-to-head record OpponentWin %Total
See also Asian nations at the FIFA World Cup Qatar at the AFC Asian Cup Qatar at the CONCACAF Gold Cup Qatar at the Copa América
References
Reports