Group: B — Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Qatar, Switzerland
How they Qualified: Won AFC fourth-round Group A, drawing 0-0 with Oman and then beating the United Arab Emirates 2-1 to clinch their first-ever World Cup berth through qualifying rather than as hosts.
Best World Cup Finish: Group stage (2022)
Transfermarkt Roster Value: $21.57 M
FIFA Rank: 55
Odds to Win Group: 28-1
Odds to Advance: +300
Odds to Win Cup: 1000-1
Key Players:
- Akram Afif — Left Winger — Al-Sadd (Qatar). Still the star of the team, listed at $9.43M and the squad’s highest-valued player. The team’s creative force, he led Qatar with 11 assists in qualifying.
- Almoez Ali — Striker — Al-Duhail SC (Qatar). Qatar’s main penalty-box threat, Ali is one of the central figures alongside Afif, leading Qatar with 12 goals in qualifying.
- Boualem Khoukhi — Center Back — Al-Sadd (Qatar). The veteran defender with 119 caps and 21 goals scored one of the two goals that sent Qatar through against the UAE.
Playing Style and Outlook
Under former Spain coach Julen Lopetegui, Qatar have leaned mostly into a compact back-four system. They were a 4-4-2 against Iran, a 4-4-2 against the UAE, and a 4-2-2-2 against Oman. Earlier in the cycle they also showed some flexibility, using a 3-4-1-2 against North Korea and a 3-4-2-1 against Kyrgyz Republic, but the must-win playoff round was notably more conservative.
So while Lopetegui has talked about a more proactive Qatar, the actual evidence from the qualifiers suggests a team built more on structure, veteran organization, and moments from Afif or set pieces than on sustained attacking control. The decisive 2-1 win over the UAE came with goals from defenders Boualem Khoukhi and Pedro Miguel, which says a lot about where their edge currently lies.
That makes Qatar a tricky but limited team. They are the fourth choice in Group B by the betting market, behind Switzerland, Canada, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, so they are deserved underdogs to advance. Still, this is not an impossible group, and Qatar’s continuity, tournament experience from 2022, and the individual quality of Afif give them a real puncher’s chance if they can keep games tight and make the margins matter.