Some of the best football players will battle it out at the FIFA World Cup 2022. One of the most anticipated sporting events of the year will be spread out across eight stadiums in Qatar from November 20 to December 18.

A total of 32 teams from five confederations will be competing in the Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022, the biggest prize in football. The teams have been divided into eight groups of four, from A to H. Only the top two teams will advance to the knockout stages, which means there will be no margin for error, while on the field.

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Incidentally, it is also set to be one of the shortest FIFA World Cup in history, where as many as 64 matches will be played during the course of 29 days. 

However, not every player who dreamt of playing FIFA 2022 could make it to Qatar, mostly due to injury. The following are 5 such names who have been ruled out for the soccer World Cup.

Paul Pogba (France)

Pogba injured his knee in pre-season. In order to repair a damaged meniscus, he underwent surgery in September. Although he resumed training, his agent said the midfielder would not return to action for Juventus or world champions France before the World Cup.

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Florian Wirtz (Germany)

In 2021, Bayer Leverkusen’s Wirtz played four times for Germany. After that, he has not made any appearances for the club or country since injuring his knee in March.

Reece James (England)

In October, the 22-year-old right-back injured his knee in Chelsea’s Champions League clash against AC Milan. He then announced that he will be part of the England squad. 

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Diogo Jota (Portugal)

The Liverpool forward sustained a calf injury during their victory against Manchester City. Even though the Premier League club’s manager Jurgen Klopp said that he would not require surgery, he will be giving the global tournament a miss.

Arthur Melo (Brazil)

Liverpool’s on-loan midfielder sustained a muscle injury in the build-up to a Champions League match with Rangers in October and hence will not be participating in the World Cup this year.