By Husna Muhdhar,
The 2022 FIFA World is the quadrennial international men’s football championship contested by the senior national teams of FIFA member associations. It will take place in Qatar from November 21 to December 18, 2022.
This will be the first World Cup to be held in the Arab world, and the second World Cup to be held fully in Asia, following the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan.
In addition, the tournament will be the last to feature 32 teams, with a 48-team tournament set for the United States, Mexico, and Canada in 2026.
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Due to the extreme heat in Qatar during the summer, the World Cup will be held from late November to mid-December, making it the first tournament not to be hosted in May, June, or July; it will be played over a shorter period of time, roughly 28 days.
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The tournament will begin with a match between Senegal and the Netherlands at Al Thumama Stadium in Doha.
The final will take place on December 18, 2022, which also happens to be Qatar National Day. France is the current World Cup champion.
FIFA announced the list of 36 referees, and 69 assistant referees and 24 video assistant referees for the tournament. Of the 36 referees, FIFA included two each from Argentina, Brazil, England and France. For the first time women referees will referee games at a major men’s tournament.
France’s Stéphanie Frappart, Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga, and Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita became the first female referees to be appointed to a men’s World Cup. Three female assistant referees will join them, which is also a first.
Four matches will be played each day during the group stage, with kick-off times of 13:00, 16:00, 19:00, and 22:00 for the first two rounds, and 18:00 and 22:00 for the final round and knockout round matches, respectively. The third-place match will take held in the Khalifa International Stadium on December 17, 2022, and the final will take place at the Lusail Iconic Stadium on December 18, 2022, both at 18:00.
The group stage matches for each group will be allocated to the following stadiums:
• Groups A, B, E, F: Al Bayt Stadium, Khalifa International Stadium, Al Thumama Stadium, Ahmad bin Ali Stadium
• Groups C, D, G, H: Lusail Iconic Stadium, Stadium 974, Education City Stadium, Al Janoub Stadium
On March 30, 2022, the official match ball, the “Al Rihla,” was introduced. It was mostly influenced by Qatar’s culture, architecture, famous boats, and flag. The word Al Rihla means “travel” in Arabic. The ball was constructed with water-based glues and inks, making it the first official match ball ever made.
The official song of the tournament is “Hayya Hayya (Better Together)”, performed by Trinidad Cardona, Davido and Aisha, released on 1 April 2022 along with the music video.
