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Despite some constant controversies, the festive season of the football world cup is ready to take place in Qatar starting from 21 November 2022. As of now, the tournament is still waiting for its full schedule to be released after play-offs results in March 2022.
Why is Qatar World Cup 2022 in winter?
Due to the scorching heat and rising temperatures of Qatar, FIFA has decided to host the football world cup in November and December. As a result, popular domestic leagues like Premier League, Ligue 1, La Liga, Bundesliga, etc., will eventually take a break and then resume in the last week of December.
The tournament will kick off on 21 November featuring the hosts at the Al Bayt stadium in Al Khor. On Sunday, December 18 at the Lusail Stadium in Doha, the competition will get its winner and runners up.
Which teams have qualified so far?
As Qatar will host the FIFA World Cup 2022, the middle eastern country has gained automatic qualification to the group stages of the tournament. Meanwhile, one of the most successful teams in FIFA World Cup history, Brazil has also secured their qualification from the South American group.
Euro 2020’s winners, Italy will have to compete in play-offs to gain their spot whereas the runners-up, England, has already secured their place by topping the qualifiers’ group.
All teams that have been qualified so far:
Teams Qualified | Qualified On |
Qatar | 2 December 2010 |
Germany | 11 October 2021 |
Denmark | 12 October 2021 |
Brazil | 11 November 2021 |
France | 13 November 2021 |
Belgium | 13 November 2021 |
Croatia | 14 November 2021 |
Spain | 14 November 2021 |
Serbia | 14 November 2021 |
England | 15 November 2021 |
Switzerland | 15 November 2021 |
Netherlands | 16 November 2021 |
Argentina | 16 November 2021 |
Which teams are in the play-offs?
A total of 6 teams will participate in the play-offs to secure the remaining three spots in Qatar World Cup 2022. The Euro 2020 champions, Italy will face North Macedonia and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal will play against Turkey. For the European nations, play-offs to reach Qatar will take place from 24 to 29 March 2022.
Path A: Scotland vs Ukraine | Wales vs Austria
Path B: Russia vs Poland | Sweden vs Czech Republic
Path C: Italy vs North Macedonia | Portugal vs Turkey
FIFA World Cup 2022 Schedule and Format
The 2022 FIFA World Cup will feature a total of 32 nations from all over the world in eight groups of four teams. During the group stages, the event will feature four matches everyday where winners and runners-up of each group will progress to the round of 16.
As the play-offs are yet to take place, the full schedule of 2022 World Cup is yet to be announced. However, it’s confirmed that unlike Euro 2020, the 2022 World Cup will feature a third-place play-off game on December 17.
Group Stage Games: 21 November to 2 December
Round of 16 Stage: 3 to 6 December
Quarter-Finals: 9 and 10 December
Semi-Finals: 13 and 14 December
Third-place Play-off: 17 December
Final: 18 December
Kick off and Match Timings
FIFA has confirmed that the first two rounds of matches will kick off at 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, and 10pm as per the local time standard.
On the other hand, the kick off time for the final round of group stage games and knockout round matches will be at 6pm and 10pm local time.
Lastly, the final is set to kick off at 6pm local time.
Event | IST Standard | UK Time | US Time CST |
First two rounds | 3:30pm, 6:30pm, 9:30pm and 12:30am | 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm | 4am, 7am, 10am and 1pm |
Final Group Stage & Knockout | 8:30pm and 12:30am | 3pm and 7pm | 9am and 1pm |
Final Game | 8:30pm | 3:00pm | 9:00am |