Meet the final three teams to qualify for the 2022 World Cup

Thirty-two countries have secured places on the coveted plane to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup.

It's been quite the journey for all teams involved. The global pandemic disrupted qualification campaigns worldwide, with many teams playing significant stretches of their campaigns in empty stadiums because of Covid-19 restrictions.

Due to these schedule interruptions, only 29 of the 32 confirmed teams were allocated to their groups during the World Cup draw in Doha in April.

There were three places up for grabs in June. The European part of the draw fell further behind, with Ukraine's eliminator against Scotland pushed back because of the ongoing conflict with Russia. However, an emotional win against the Scottish meant the Ukrainians were now just 90 minutes away from booking their spot at what would have been their first World Cup since 2006.

For the first time in 64 years, Wales qualified for a World Cup after reaching the European Play-Off Final despite failing to do so since 1958. However, the nation which had the almost universal support of the neutrals was Ukraine. It was a ray of light after such a devastating year for the country in 2022, especially after that victory in Glasgow four days earlier.

It wasn't to be for Ukraine, as international superstar Gareth Bale’s deflected effort off the unfortunate Andriy Yarmolenko meant it was the Welsh who had booked their ticket to Qatar. That led to jubilant scenes in Cardiff and Doha as Welsh ex-pats congregated in 'The Curry House' at the Intercontinental Hotel and began to look forward to seeing their heroes in this city in a little over five months.

Welsh fan Tom Williams told Football Now, "It's a generational thing. There are a lot of fans who have never seen Wales in the