FIFA changes Qatar World Cup schedule

There were rumors a few days ago that FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 schedule is changing. Finally, the official announcement came on Thursday night. FIFA has changed its World Cup schedule. The opening match of the World Cup in Qatar came a day after this announcement by the governing body of world football.

The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 was scheduled to start on November 21, Monday, as per the previous schedule. However, FIFA has informed that this year’s World Cup will start a day before; i.e.; on November 20. The host Qatar will play against Ecuador in the first match. As per the previous schedule, the first match was between Senegal and Netherlands.

For this, the duration of the World Cup has increased by a day. According to the previous schedule, the World Cup was scheduled to end on December 18. Although the schedule of the opening match has changed after FIFA’s announcement, the date of the final remains the same, the final will be held on December 18. As a result, the World Cup will end on December 19.

Noted that a majority vote of the FIFA Council Bureau was required to approve the change. The decision was taken unanimously by the Bureau, which consists of FIFA president Gianni Infantino and the heads of six continental bodies.

“What is the reason behind changing the FIFA World Cup schedule?” In response to this question, FIFA’s statement said, “This change is in keeping with the tradition that started with the start of the World Cup. The opening match is usually played by the hosts or the champions.”

The schedule for November 21 has changed due to bringing forward Qatar’s match. On that day, the match between Senegal and Netherlands will be played in the slot left by Qatar. However, the other two matches of that day were not affected by this schedule change.

The schedule of all other matches remains unchanged.