MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/: The 2022 FIFA World Cup is set to start in Qatar on Sunday, marking the 22nd edition of the global football tournament supervised by FIFA.
The opening match of the championship in Qatar is scheduled to start tonight at 7:00 p.m. local time [19:00 Moscow time] between Group A teams Qatar and the national squad of Ecuador. The match will be played at the 60,000-seat capacity Al-Bayt Stadium.
The world championship was initially scheduled to start on November 21 with a match between the national teams of The Netherlands and Senegal, which also play in Group A. However, FIFA Council’s bureau announced a decision on August 11 to move the championship’s opening game to November 20, stating that it respected the heritage of FIFA’s traditions and each World Cup should start with an opening ceremony and inaugural match involving the host country.
The Russian national football team is not taking part in the upcoming FIFA World Cup. It finished second in its group at the qualifying stage with 22 points after 10 matches, which saw the Russian squad proceeding to the playoffs, where they had another chance to qualify for the world’s largest football tournament.
However, the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) announced on February 28 that the Russian national team and all professional clubs representing the country were barred from taking part in FIFA tournaments, including the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
On April 1, a draw for the group stage of the World Cup was held, placing all participating teams into the following groups:
Group A: Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands
Group B: England, Iran, the United States, Wales
Group C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland
Group D: France, Tunisia, Denmark, Australia
Group E: Spain, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan
Group F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia
Group G: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon
Group H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea
The group stage matches are scheduled to run across numerous fields in Qatar between November 20 and December 2.
Qatar won the right to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup on December 2, 2010.
In March 2015, FIFA officially announced that the 22nd edition of FIFA’s flagship event would be played in November and December of 2022, with the final match set for December 18, 2022, coinciding with - Qatar National Day. The objective, in principle, was to hold the tournament over 28 days.
Qatar is set to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup between November 20 and December 18 at eight stadiums in five cities across the country. The eight stadiums at the issue are Al Bayt Stadium, Khalifa International Stadium, Al Thumama Stadium, Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Lusail Iconic Stadium, Stadium 974, Education City Stadium, Al Janoub Stadium.
The FIFA World Cup is held every four years. The inaugural event was hosted by Uruguay in 1930. The national football team of Brazil has participated in all 22 editions of the FIFA World Cup beginning in 1930, winning five of them (in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002).
The national teams of Germany and Italy are each four-time World Cup winners (Germany - in 1954, 1974, 1990, 2014; Italy - in 1934, 1938, 1982, 2006).
The previous FIFA World Cup was hosted by Russia in 2018. The championship kicked off in Moscow with a remarkable opening show at Luzhniki Stadium on the evening of June 14, 2018 and ended on July 15 with a spectacular final match, also played at Luzhniki Stadium, where France defeated Croatia 4-2 to win the much-coveted World Cup Trophy.
The championship took place at 12 stadiums in 11 cities across Russia, namely in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.
On July 15, 2018, during an official ceremony in the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin passed the baton of the FIFA World Cup’s host country to Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in the presence of FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
