FIFA World Cup 2022 

The 2022 FIFA World Cup was set to be the 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was scheduled to take place in Qatar in November and December 2022. This will be the first time the World Cup will be held in the Arab world and the first in a Muslim-majority country. Qatar was chosen as the host country by the governing body of world football, FIFA, in December 2010, at its 22nd Congress in Zurich, defeating bids from Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States. The tournament was played across eight venues in seven host cities: Doha (the capital), Al Wakrah, Al Khor, Al Rayyan, Lusail, Umm Salal, and Qatar Foundation Stadium. The final took place at Lusail Iconic Stadium on 18 December 2022. As of May 2021, none of the bidding nations have withdrawn from the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The tournament was originally scheduled to take place from 21 November to 18 December 2022, but in January 2019, Qatar and FIFA announced that the event would be moved to November and December to avoid the risks associated with the 2022 FIFA World Cup being played in the summer in Qatar, when temperatures can exceed 50C degrees. This is the first World Cup to be held in the Arab world and the first in a Muslim-majority country. The competition will coincide with the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup.

 

Qualification

As with previous World Cups, the 2022 edition featured 32 teams. For the first time in history no team was automatically qualify the for Qatar 2022 through their continental confederation, as all sides had to take part in qualifying to earn their place in the tournament.
For Europe, the number of teams qualifying directly to the World Cup had been increased from 13 to 16, while Oceania gained a direct qualifying berth for the first time ever, leaving only Africa with the same number of qualifying spots. This gives 47 of the 53 UEFA member nations a shot at earning a place in the World Cup.
Hosts Qatar were not required to qualify for the tournament, allowing them to automatically take their place at the finals. This marked the first time in World Cup history that the hosts did not have to go through qualifying. Finishing third in their respective groups in the third round, both Saudi Arabia and Syria qualified for a play-off to decide who will join Japan and Iran in qualifying for a 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup berth in Europe. United Arab Emirates and Lebanon are the other two Mideast teams taking part in their first regional tournament.
However, on 19 February 2019, AFC gave permission to Syria to host matches in the play-off due to the volatile situation on their country, thus adding to the controversy.

 

Group stage

As hosts, Qatar automatically qualified to Group A, whereas Groups B, C and D were drawn in a separate ceremony held on 12 May 2017.

Here is how the tournament happened.

 

• Group A
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• Group B
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• Group C
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• Group D
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• Ranking of second-placed teams
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• Knockout stage
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• Bracket
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• Quarter-finals
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• Semi-finals
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• Third place play-off
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• Final
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• Winners
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• Awards
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• Individual awards

 

The tournament was played in a total of eight stadiums located in seven host  cities.

On 24 September 2018, FIFA announced Moscow Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Saransk, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg and Samara as the host cities for the tournament. They were chosen from 11 contenders, and were selected by FIFA's venues committee. The committee based its decisions on a number of key criteria, including sustainability, long-term infrastructure development and economic viability.

A total of fifty-eight songs have been selected as official anthems and songs of the World Cup.

Four songs are authored by the host country's native musicians: "песня для музыкантов" (the medley recording "здесь и сейчас" and "песня доброго дня")/"Grandstand song" by Sergey Smirnov, "Александр ан

Qatar hosted the tournament in a newly built, environmentally sustainable stadium infrastructure. Qatar will spend US$200 billion on infrastructure in preparation for the tournament, making it the most expensive World Cup ever. This includes nine new stadiums, seven of which will be used for the tournament, and upgrading existing ones.

The tournament has been widely criticized for the awarding of the cup to Qatar, as well as the country's human rights record. There have been calls for a re-vote on the host nation. There is also controversy surrounding the migrant, workers and LGBT+ rights as well as hosting in the summer months when it is too hot to play.

Since the announcement that Qatar would host the tournament, the small Gulf state has been embroiled in controversy. The country has been accused of bribery in the bidding process and of not doing enough to improve the working conditions of migrant workers. As well as this, Qatar's human rights record has been heavily criticized, with allegations of forced labor and discrimination against LGBT+ people. There have been calls for a re-vote on the host nation, and for the tournament to be moved to the winter months when it is cooler.

However, Qatar has denied all allegations of wrongdoing and has vowed to host a "safe and secure" tournament.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup is set to be held in November/December due to concerns over the climate during the usual June/July timeframe in Qatar. This will be the first time the tournament is not held in May, June, or July. The last time the World Cup was not held in its traditional summertime slot was during the 1966 edition in England. The change was made due to the climate in Qatar, which is very hot during the summer months. FIFA noted that holding the tournament in the cooler months would be "more conducive to playing football".

The format of the tournament will also be different, with the field expanded from 32 to 48 teams. The new format will see 16 groups of three teams, with the top two from each group advancing to the knockout stage. This is the first time the World Cup will be played with 48 teams. The other two hosting slots were awarded to Qatar and Colombia. Qatar will host the 2022 World Cup, with the 2026 tournament to be hosted jointly in the US, Mexico and Canada.