When are the World Cup play-offs and who could Wolves’ Portugal stars face?

Portugal have finished second in their World Cup qualifying group.

A defeat to Serbia means Portugal and their Wolves stars must go through the play-offs.

When are the play-offs played?

The play-offs will take place in the first international break of 2022 between March 24 and March 29.

The draw for the play-offs will take place on Friday November 26 at 4pm.

That is when Ruben Neves, Jose Sa, Nelson Semedo, Joao Moutinho and Pedro Neto will learn their fate.

How do the World Cup play-offs work?

There will be a total of 12 teams in the play-offs. Ten of these are teams who finished second in their qualification group.

The other two are the top ranked teams from the UEFA Nations League who have not yet qualified for the 2022 World Cup.

There will be three groups, each with a one-off semi-final and a final.

Just three teams from the 12 will make the World Cup.

Who could Portugal face?

Portugal are one of the teams who will be seeded in the play-offs, meaning they will play a home semi-final.

The 12 play-off teams: Portugal, Italy, Poland, Scotland, North Macedonia, Russia, Wales, Turkey, Ukraine, Sweden, Austria, Czech Republic.

The six teams seeded for the draw are: Portugal, Italy, Scotland, Russia, Sweden, Wales; who can’t be drawn against each other at the semi-final stage.

Seedings were determined by qualification points gained.

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