World Cup 2022 Info

World Cup 2022- What we know so far

World Cup for the first time in the Arab world

The World Cup will be held in an Arab country for the first time this year. For the second time in history, the World Cup will be held in Asia. So far, 21 football world championships have been played, and Asia hosted the only time in 2002 when the organizers of the championship were Japan and South Korea. This year, the host will be Qatar, which is the smallest country in terms of an area that has ever won the organization of the World Cup. Qatar has never played at the World Cup so far, so they will make their debut as the organizer of the competition. So far, only South Korea has hosted the 2002 World Cup and has never played in the competition before.

Instead of summer, the championship is held during the winter

Due to the well-known climatic conditions in Qatar, the World Cup will be held during the winter for the first time. We are used to watching the best world national teams at this prestigious competition during June and July, and this year we will watch the best world football players from all continents from November 21 to December 18. The championship will last only 28 days. In Qatar, the title will be defended by France, which defeated Croatia 4-2 in the final at the previous championship held in Russia in 2018.

Qatar is a country where luxury lives

In the capital Doha, everything exudes luxury. Apart from the economy, it also cares about culture, and that country is the largest buyer of works of art in the world. A cursory glance at the center of Doha, West Bay - its luxurious skyscrapers, hotels, museums, shopping malls, landscaped parks, and squares confirms that modern architecture (especially the Gulf countries) loves metamorphoses. Panorama of the city and luxury vehicles on the boulevards, assure you that you are on the richest peninsula in the world, in one of the most powerful business centers of the modern world.

As the owner of one-third of the world's natural gas reserves, Qatar is the largest exporter of that energy in the world, and their oil reserves are more than 15 billion barrels. Foreigners mostly find work here in energy and construction, where the range of jobs is very wide - from hard physical jobs to highly skilled engineering jobs. Unemployment and inflation are very low, around three percent, and the local population does only the best-paid jobs and does not pay taxes. Numerous benefits show that the state takes care of the well-being of their citizens in other ways as well - from quickly issuing permits for the construction of a house, to giving half of the money for its construction. Compared to some Arab countries, women in Qatar have greater rights and freedoms, many do not wear the hijab and abaya, which was unthinkable until recently.

Seven new stadiums

The picture of Qatar's economic development in recent years has been crowned by preparations for the World Cup. More than $200 billion has already been spent on building the necessary infrastructure, seven new stadiums for 40,000 spectators and cooling systems and fans under the seats, a new subway, a whole new city in the northern suburbs of Doha, about 900 kilometers of new roads. Hundreds of thousands of workers from all continents saw this as a job opportunity. And regardless of speculations about how Qatar was chosen to host the World Cup, it is certain that it is in full swing for the emirate - another mega step on the world stage.

As mentioned, seven new stadiums were built for the needs of this year's World Cup. The matches will be played in a total of eight stadiums within five cities. In addition to the capital Doha, the best national teams will have the opportunity to watch in Lusail, Al Khor, Al Rayyan, and Al Wakrah. Most stadiums have a capacity of just over 40,000 spectators. The largest stadium is located in Lusail as Lusail Iconic Stadium receives 80,000 spectators. The championship will open at Al Bayt Stadium, which has a capacity of 60,000 seats. Qatar will play their first match at the World Cup at that stadium. The last stadium was completed at the end of last year. This is Stadium 974, for the construction of which over 974 shipping containers were used. All stadiums have all the necessary comfort to enjoy watching football matches. This country has very high temperatures, so all stadiums will have a cooling system that will lower the temperature to a pleasant 20 degrees.

Qatar Stars League

Qatar Stars League is the strongest football competition in the mentioned country, which was founded exactly five decades ago. As you can see, Qatar is not a country with a long football tradition, and it was very strange for many football fans that this country got the opportunity to host the World Cup. 12 teams are participating in this competition, and the most trophy-winning team is Al-Sadd SC, which has been a champion sixteen times. Until recently, this team was led by the current coach of Barcelona, ​​Xavi Hernandez. In that team, Xavi had previously ended his playing career. In addition to him, many other world football stars played in Qatar. Players like James Rodriguez and Santi Cazorla are playing in Qatar today, and Samuel Eto'o, Raul Gonzalez, Juninho, Pep Guardiola, Gabriel Batistuta have done it before. It is not a problem for rich owners to give lucrative contracts to big stars to further popularize football in this country, which will definitely be done by organizing the World Cup at the end of the year.

Qualified Teams

All participants in this year's World Cup will be known soon. The draw for the group phase of the competition will be held on April 1. Until then, only two more participants will not be known, as the last participants will be obtained through intercontinental playoffs. So far, 15 participants of 22 World Cups are known. In addition to the hosts, ten participants from Europe are known so far. At this year's World Cup, we will again have the opportunity to watch the finalists from the previous championship, France and Croatia. In addition to the mentioned selections, the world champion from 2010, Spain, and Germany, the world champion from 2014, will participate. The English were world champions only once in 1966, and it remains to be seen whether they will eventually win their second title in Qatar.

As four years ago, we will again have the opportunity to watch Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, and Serbia. After an eight-year break, the Netherlands is returning to the World Cup. Brazil is the selection with the most world titles and the only national team that participated in every championship. In Qatar, they will try to reach their sixth title, two decades since the last title won in Japan and South Korea. In addition to Brazil in Qatar, we will also watch their great rival, Argentina. As participants from Asia, we will again have the opportunity to watch Iran and South Korea.

As for CONCACAF, there are great chances that we will watch Canada, the USA, and Mexico in Qatar, and that Panama or Costa Rica will go to the playoffs. At the end of March, it will be known which five national teams from Africa will have the opportunity to participate in the World Cup. By the end of the same month, we will know the rest of the participants from other continents, where the most interesting will be in Europe since Portugal or Italy will miss the next championship.