FIFA World Cup 2022: The Festival of Football

The sports season is on, and with a bang! First, cricket fans had their fill. And now, it is time for football lovers! Because the FIFA World Cup is here. The ultimate championship in the world of football, this World Cup, will be high on adrenaline, like always. It is one of the world’s most watched and attended events. And rightly so! Watching your favourite team and players in action is a different excitement altogether. The World Cup is a quadrennial event, adding to soccer lovers’ endless wait. And their wait has finally paid off!

The ardent fans can’t keep calm as November 20 has arrived, which is the FIFA World Cup starting date. The first match scheduled on Sunday will officially kick-start this session. The first FIFA match will be held between Ecuador and the host country, Qatar. The seats were sold out months ago as everyone wanted to catch their favourite players live in action. Also, who wouldn’t love to watch all the scenes the broadcast may miss?

So read on to catch up with what will happen in the upcoming weeks. Also, if you are too eager and can’t contain your suspense, you should get a sneak peek at how far your favourite team will go this season.

FIFA World Cup: The Festival of Football Fans

FIFA is the acronym for Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the international presiding body for football and strategically similar games. Currently, 211 national federations of football are included under this organisation. The World Cup, as it is better known, is an international football tournament completed by the senior men’s national team from different nations members of FIFA. This championship was started in 1930 and has been a consistent event, except in 1942 and 1946. This year’s defending champion is France, who won this coveted tournament in 2018 when Russia hosted the World Cup.

In the initial selection, all the national teams play matches at the national and international levels to win a spot on the final list for the World Cup. This selection process takes place over three years. After that, the host country has a default qualification. The 32 teams that make it to the tournament are then sorted into 8 groups for the group matches. Each unit has to emerge as the champion in their respective group to advance through the game. Finally, two of the best teams will remain to compete for the prestigious title of World champions, the World Cup trophy made of 18-carat of gold and a mindblowing amount of 42 million dollars!

Football Fans

FIFA World Cup Teams: Contenders in the Faceoffs

The system segregates the 32 national teams into 8 FIFA World Cup groups, with 4 teams in each group. These groups and their component nations are:

A: Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, The Netherlands
B: England, Iran, USA, Wales
C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland
D: France, Australia, Denmark, Tunisia
E: Spain, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan
F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia
G: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon
H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, Korea Republic

FIFA world cup

FIFA Nations Cup 2022 Schedule and Location

Schedule

The 2022 World Cup is scheduled to last from November 20 to December 18, making it the shortest World Cup, with 29 days. Coincidentally, the 2022 World Cup happens to be the 22nd FIFA World Cup. Also, for the first time, the tournament isn’t scheduled between May to July due to the host country Qatar’s humid climate. Now, with the onset of Northern winter, the weather is pleasant in this Middle Eastern country, boosting the inflow of fans.

This world cup will have a hectic schedule, with four daily matches! The group qualifier matches would co-occur in around the eight national stadiums. Accounting for the 64 games, the World Cup 2022 date and time indicate one tight-packed schedule. The group matches will start on November 20 and last upto December 2. These matches will filter out the teams that will qualify for the knockout matches, which are scheduled to begin on December 3 and last until December 6. The quarter-finals are scheduled for 9th and 10th December, a total of 8 matches. The semifinals are on the 13th and 14th of December, with the grand finale on December 18, commencing at 18:00 Greenwich time.

Locations

The World Cup 2022 host country is Qatar. An Arab country will host the FIFA World Cup for the first time. This is the second FIFA Cup conducted in the Asian subcontinent. The 2022 World Cup venues are 8 stadiums spread across the country, with the idea to run more matches simultaneously. Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor will witness the onset of this World Cup with an inaugural ceremony and the first match of the season. Lusail Stadium will see the final faceoff of the Qatar World Cup. The arrangements made by Qatar for the FIFA World cup in the form of newly built stadiums have been the talk of international media for quite some time. Some are claiming it as the ‘game changer’ in the future development of Qatar’s economy. There are 8 stadiums where the matches are going to take place. They are:

Al Bayt Stadium
Khalifa International Stadium
Al Thumama Stadium
Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium
Lusail Stadium
Stadium 974
Education City Stadium
Al Janoub Stadium

Starry Beginning

The opening ceremony is of no less grandeur than the actual matches. It is also the main attraction amongst many fans, who are music or some other enthusiast apart from football fans. Before Qatar’s first game against Ecuador, the Qatar World Cup opening ceremony will take place at Al Bayt Stadium. Al Bayt Stadium can accommodate 60,000 spectators.

On November 20, Jeon Jungkook, a K-pop sensation member of BTS, will perform during the football tournament’s opening ceremony. According to a tweet from the group, Jungkook will also provide music for the World Cup. The American musical duo Black Eyed Peas and Colombian artist J Balvin have a spot in the lineup. In addition, Nigerian singer-songwriter Patrick Nnaemeka Okoriealso has a performance. The newest single from the FIFA World Cup 2022 official soundtrack, “Light The World,” also includes Indian actress and dancer Nora Fatehi.

Predictions for the Cup

Now comes the most thrilling part of the event, the final showdown. Sports enthusiasts and analysts have made predictions based on the team’s previous performances and the current team members. But some fans also tap into their mystic side to take in other factors that may change the course of any matches. After taking into consideration both the practical and ‘luck’ factors of the game, depending on the date and time of the games, the fans are making these predictions:

Firstly, to narrow down amongst the best of the bests, the four strongest contenders with a high chance of making it to the semifinals are Brazil, Argentina, Spain and England. Things are working for each of them this season; hence, they all have good chances of taking home the cup.
Brazil has made its mark as the team with the most wins in the World Cup. Also, they will be in phenomenal shape in 2022. These are the factors working for them.
Argentina is going strong as compared to Brazil in the recent past. They are at their best in the decade and have been on a winning streak at international tournaments. Their strong team and lineup get them into this race.
The Spanish team has the advantage of youth, as for having quite a few young players. Their agility and energy will make them formidable competitors to play against. Also, they have already demonstrated the ability to learn from their mistakes. Unsurprisingly, they might have quite a few crucial lessons up their sleeves.
England has been very close to getting the trophy quite a few times. And this year might be their lucky charm. They already have the required coordination on the field, making them a good contender for the cup.

Final Prediction

Argentina, at present, is in the best position to win the Qatar 2022 Cup. From a pure sports angle, their team is arguably the best among the national teams. Lionel Messi’s people know how to convert a match into a win, and the Argentina fans expect them to do the same in Qatar.