Soccer Games Today on TV: FIFA Decided to Change World Cup Start Date

Sunday, August 14, 2022

FIFA Decided to Change World Cup Start Date

The 2022 World Cup will kick off a day earlier than the original schedule in keeping with the tradition of recent tournaments.

This decision was adopted after discussions between FIFA, the two teams involved and a special committee consisting of FIFA President Gianni Infantino and the presidents of the six member councils UEFA, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, CAF, AFC and OFC.

According to FIFA's announcement on the evening of August 11, the 2022 World Cup will begin with the opening match of host Qatar against Ecuador at 19:00 on November 20 (23h Hanoi time), after the opening ceremony at Al Bayt Stadium with capacity of 60,000 people. This was the only match that day.

According to the original plan, the 2022 World Cup kicks off on November 21 with two matches Senegal - the Netherlands and Qatar - Ecuador, in which Senegal - the Netherlands is determined to be the opening match.

Since the 2006 World Cup, the opening match has always been a match with the home team. Therefore, FIFA decided to adjust to bring Qatar's match first. The time of the Senegal - Netherlands match was also moved to 19:00 instead of 13:00 as originally, but kept the same schedule on November 21. The time frame for the match between England - Iran and the US - Wales that day did not change.

The 2022 World Cup is a special tournament in history, when it is held in the winter because the summer in Qatar is too hot (ranging from 30 to 42 degrees Celsius).

With the new adjustment, the tournament is increased to 29 days, still with a competition density of four matches per day and matches not in the same time frame (except for the last round of the group stage to avoid negativity). This comes from the reason that the organization has to be shortened to minimize the impact of an unprecedented winter World Cup in history.

On the other hand, because the courts are very close to each other (all within a radius of 60 km) and modern infrastructure, the host country can ensure the same density of competition as above.