2022 World Cup: How are group stage tie-breakers determined? Rules explained

The 2022 World Cup group stage is slowly drawing to a close with the final round of fixtures soon getting underway.

It's been an incredibly competitive tournament thus far with shocks aplenty and almost all of the eight groups tightly packed. As a result, it's highly likely that we'll see several teams finish the group phase on equal points and will thus be at the mercy of FIFA's tiebreak rules in determining who finishes atop their group or progresses through to the round of 16.

Here is a breakdown of each rule used by World Cup officials in the evaluation process.

Goal difference

Should two or more teams finish level on points at the end of the group phase, the first tiebreaker - unlike the Champions League which has switched over to head-to-head record - is goal difference.

The team with the greatest positive disparity between goals scored and goals conceded will advance.

Goals scored

If the teams can't be separated by goal difference, the team that has scored the most goals in their three group games will progress into the round of 16.

Head-to-head record

Head-to-head is the third tiebreaker. Should the teams level on points at the end of the group stage fail to be separated by goal difference and goals scored, the outcome of their clash will then determine who goes through.

FIFA also lists the goal difference and goals scored in the head-to-head encounter as other tiebreakers before we finish off with...

Fair play system

Senegal were cruelly eliminated from the 2018 World Cup because they received two more yellow cards than Japan in their three group games.

Should the fair play criteria come into play, the team with the highest conduct score in relation to yellow and red cards will advance.

Here's how points are deducted in the fair play sphere:

• yellow card: -1 point
• indirect red card (as a result of two yellow cards): -3 points
• direct red card: -4 points
• yellow card and direct red card: -5 points