Finland were drawn to face the reigning world champions France as well as Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Bosnia and Herzegovina in World Cup Qualifying Group D at the UEFA draw in Zurich on Monday.
The team’s recent run of good form, which included an historic first qualification for a finals tournament, has seen them rise to 54th in governing body FIFA’s World Rankings. This guaranteed the huuhkajat, or eagle owls, a place in the third seeded pot out of six.
Among Finland’s group opponents, France are currently ranked second in the world, Ukraine are 24th and Bosnia and Herzegovina are one place behind the eagle owls in 55th. Kazakhstan are much further back, in 122nd position.
"This is a tough group, there is no denying it," Finland’s manager Markku Kanerva told Yle. "I had been wishing for a ‘group of hope’, but this is maybe closer to a 'group of death'."
Finland have played each of their upcoming opponents in previous international games, the most notable of which was a 2-0 victory over France in a friendly match in Paris last month.
"Even though we beat France, they are still the reigning world champions," the team’s Head of Performance Analysis Henri Lehto said. "Ukraine were in our group for the previous World Cup qualifiers, and we played some pretty close games. Bosnia was the one we wanted to avoid in this draw and Kazakhstan is not the most comfortable destination for travelling."
The winners of each group will automatically qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The team finishing in second place will advance to a playoff round with the nine other group runners-up plus the best two Nations League group winners.
They will then be separated into three play-off paths, with each path featuring two single-leg semi-finals and one single-leg final.
The winner of each of these paths will advance to the World Cup finals, which will be held in Qatar from 21 November to 18 December 2022.