The World Cup 2022 has officially kicked off with host nations Qatar falling to a 2-0 defeat against Ecuador in the opening fixture. However, all attention both in the UK and the US turns to Group B, with England, Wales and the USA all in action.
With just two teams from each group progressing to the last 16 stage of the tournament, it’s not just British and American supporters that will be getting excited about the drama that could unfold in Group B, as data suggests that the group is the hardest to predict.
Taking the official FIFA World Rankings, the team at betting.com has crunched the numbers to determine which of the eight groups at the World Cup merits the infamous title of ‘group of death’.
| Rank | Group | Highest FIFA Ranked team | Lowest FIFA Ranked team | Total FIFA Rankings of combined four teams |
| 1. | B | England (5) | Iran (23) | 61 |
| 2. | E | Spain (6) | Costa Rica (34) | 75 |
| 3. | G | Brazil (1) | Cameroon (38) | 80 |
| 4. | F | Belgium (2) | Canada (43) | 82 |
| 5. | D | France (4) | Australia (39) | 83 |
| 6. | C | Argentina (3) | Saudi Arabia (53) | 94 |
| 7. | H | Portugal (9) | Ghana (60) | 110 |
| 8. | A | Netherlands (8) | Qatar (49) | 119 |
Group B is officially the 2022 World Cup ‘group of death’.
Group B is perhaps much tougher than anyone – particularly Three Lions fans – might realise, as it is the only group not to feature a team outside of the top 30 in FIFA rankings.
In fact, the lowest-ranked team in the group, Iran, are still ranked as high as 23rd in the world – a ranking that earns the nation the merit of being the highest FIFA-ranked Asian team in world football.
Just 18 ranking places separate the highest and lowest-ranked teams in Group B, meaning that each of the four nations competing will fancy their chances of progressing to the last 16, with only just two spots available for the taking.
Group H features the lowest-ranked nation at the 2022 World Cup.
While Ghana may have a famous association with the World Cup in recent years – the nation narrowly missed out on a spot in the semi-finals at South Africa 2010 following a controversial missed penalty against Uruguay – the African nation heads into Qatar 2022 as the lowest-ranked team at the tournament.
Despite two high-ranking teams in Group H, 9th-ranked Portugal and 13th-ranked Uruguay, the expected formality that these nations should progress to the last 16 means that Group H simply cannot be considered a ‘group of death’.
Group A is no ‘group of death’ at all.
On paper, this should be the easiest group to predict with the 8th-ranked Netherlands and 18th-ranked Senegal well ahead of their opponents according to FIFA’s ranking system.
49th-ranked Qatar are the lowest-ranked team in Group A. However, the host nations at the World Cup arguably looked much further off the pace than the five ranking positions between 44th-ranked Ecuador would suggest in the tournament’s opening fixture.
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