In December 2010, Qatar saw off competition from Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States to win the bid to host the 2022 World Cup, becoming the first-ever Middle Eastern nation to do so.
Five years later, FIFA confirmed both that the tournament would, for the first time in its history, be moved to the winter to compensate for Qatar’s searing heat and that the final would take place exactly a week before Christmas.
Now, following a lengthy qualification process and with the World Cup draw coming and going months ago, the tournament is just weeks away.
With the tournament – which runs from November 20 to December 18 – now approaching, we give you all the information you need.
How does the tournament work?
There will be a total of 32 teams competing, initially split into eight groups of four.
The 32-team format – one that was introduced in 1998 – will soon be abandoned, with a 48-team format to be introduced for the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States, Mexico And Canada.
Four games a day will be played during the group stages – other than the opening day, where Qatar will play Ecuador – which run from November 21 to December 2, with the top-two teams from each progressing into the knockouts.
There will be no safety net of a best third-placed team to fall back on, as we saw at Euro 2020 last year.
While Euro 2020 didn’t have a third-place play-off, the World Cup in Qatar will, as has been the case in previous tournaments, with Belgium beating England 2-0 in Russia four years ago.
The knockout stages, starting with the round of 16, will begin on December 3, running until December 6.
The quarter-finals will then take place from December 9-10, before the semi-finals are played on December 13 and 14.
The final of the 2022 World Cup will take place on Sunday, December 18.
What are the groups?
As stated, eight groups of four teams will compete for a place in the knockout stages.
Gareth Southgate’s England were handed a favourable group, with Iran and USA two nations they will be expected to comfortably beat, while Wales will also be underdogs against the Three Lions.
England will soon face stern competition providing they get through the group, however with a potential run of Senegal, France and Belgium en route to the final.
Group E is deemed the ‘Group of Death’ at this winter’s tournament, with Spain and Germany drawn into an enticing quartet.
Brazil, France and Argentina, three nations widely expected to go deep in the competition, are all expected to get through their groups without trouble.
- Group A: Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands
- Group B: England, Iran, USA, Wales
- Group C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland
- Group D: France, Australia, Denmark, Tunisia
- 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
What venues are being used?
There will be just eight venues in use at this winter’s World Cup, which is the fewest since the 16-team tournament at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.
Each venue is situated within a 21-mile radius of central Doha, with a metro and tram system linking them all. In practice, this means fans will be able to travel to multiple matches in a day.
The Lusail Stadium will be the showpiece venue for the tournament, hosting the opening fixture, the final and a number of key matches throughout.
Interestingly, the stadia will all be powered by solar panel fans; they will also be equipped with detailed cooling systems to battle the heat, even though the tournament has been moved to the winter to compensate for this issue. Some of them will even have outdoor air-conditioning.
Just one stadium will play home to a football team afterwards, however, with one dismantled altogether and the remaining six to have half their seats ripped up and sent to developing countries.
Below is a full list of the venues:
- Lusail Stadium
- Al Janoub Stadium
- Al Bayt Stadium
- Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium
- Education City Stadium
- Al Thumama Stadium
- Stadium 974
- Khalifa International Stadium
When are the matches taking place?
The World Cup will take place between November 20 and December 18 this year with a total of 32 teams competing for the grand prize.
The group stages will begin on November 20 and will run for 12 days, with four matches being played on each – other than the opening day.
The top two teams from each group will progress to the round of 16, with the stage ending on December 2.
The round of 16 will be played from December 3-6, the quarter-finals will take place from December 9-10 and the semi-finals will be played on December 13 and 14.
The final of the 2022 World Cup will take place on Sunday, December 18.
The first two rounds of group stage matches will all kick off at either 1pm, 4pm, 7pm or 10pm local time, with the final round – and the knockout matches – all at either 6pm or 10pm. The final will kick-off at 6pm local time.
As for the UK, the matches during the first two rounds of group stages will kick off at either 10am, 1pm, 4pm or 7pm, with both the final round and the knockout matches at either 3pm or 7pm. The final will be at 3pm.
What do the odds say?
It was England who came into Euro 2020 as the favourites, primarily as the majority of their games were played at Wembley Stadium.
Southgate’s side, after losing out to Italy in the final, now find themselves slightly down the pecking order to lift a second-ever World Cup, a first since 1966.
Perhaps surprisingly, reigning champions France are only the second-favourites to win the tournament, though that might be due to the fact it’s been 60 years since a nation last won back-to-back World Cups.
That nation, somewhat ironically, was Brazil, who are the favourites to win a sixth trophy in their prolific history.
Also in the mix are Spain, who will be determined to bounce back after underperforming in both 2014 and 2018, having won the tournament in 2010.
As are European giants Germany, who could draw level with Brazil on five World Cup wins, alongside Argentina, whose most recent of two wins came in 1986.
Credit: dailymail.co.uk
