World Cup 2022 Interesting Facts

All eyes are on Qatar as the world’s biggest football event moves from Russia to the Arabian country for the first time in the history of the world cup. State-of-the-art stadiums with never seen facilities, top-class stays for the fans near the venues, and a lot more is on offer as Qatar gears up for the much-awaited football tournament in the world.

Qatar is all set to host the world cup 2022. The small peninsular country has ensured all the venues are connected with the Qatar metro network. The fans can enjoy their stay with the cruise liners which are also called the ‘floating hotels’.

Being the host country, Qatar automatically qualified for the world cup 2022. This will be the first time Qatar will be playing in the world cup finals.

While the Arabian country had only 1 stadium, they’ve erected 7 new stadiums for the biggest football event in the world.

The event has been set for the winter due to the high temperatures in Qatar during summer. The average temperatures during the winter in the country range between 15°C and 24°C.

From the host country to the number of teams and venues, there are quite a few things that make Qatar 2022 stand apart from the rest of the world cup editions so far.

• This is the first time an Arab country is hosting the FIFA world cup.
• It will be the last time the world cup will feature 32 teams as from the next edition onward, we will have a total of 48 teams appearing in the world cup finals.
• For the first time in history, the world cup is scheduled for the winter. Previously, the world cup used to be played during the summer in the southern hemisphere.
• Qatar 2022 might be the last world cup for some of the biggest stars of football such as Lionel Messi, Christiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski, Pepe, and Neymar
• This is also the first time since 1978 that the world cup is being played at the fewest number of venues. There are only 8 stadiums for the Qatar 2022 event. For the 1978 world cup, Argentina had only 6 stadiums which is the lowest ever in the world cup history.
• Qatar 2022 will be the last world cup to feature 4 teams in each group in the group stage. From the 2026 edition onward, the FIFA world cup will have 16 groups with 3 teams each and an additional knockout round.
• The Doha Metro link connects all the venues of the world cup which are in close proximity to each other.
• In addition to cruise liners for fans to stay during the world cup, Qatar has also ensured fully air-conditioned stadiums.

Qualifiers

With Qatar automatically qualifying for the world cup, 31 spots were up for grabs for the world cup. These 31 teams would come from 6 confederations that have a specific number of spots at the world cup.

UEFA (Europe) – A total of 13 teams qualify from UEFA for the world cup which is the highest for any confederation. With 55 teams competing in the qualifiers, 10 group winners qualified for the world cup finals. Whereas, the rest of the three teams are decided by playoffs.

Here are the teams qualified for world cup 2022 from UEFA –

• Serbia
• Spain
• Switzerland
• France
• Belgium
• Denmark
• Netherlands
• Croatia
• England
• Germany
• Portugal
• Poland
• Wales

CONMEBOL (South America) – 4 or 5 teams qualify from this confederation for the world cup. While 4 teams from the qualifiers get a ticket to the world cup finals, 5th team will compete in an intercontinental playoff for the world cup finals berth.

Brazil was the first team to qualify among the CONMEBOL nations. Other teams that qualified for the finals from this confederation are –

• Argentina
• Ecuador
• Uruguay

Peru has secured the playoff spot and will be playing against the winners of the AFC playoff on June 13.

CONCACAF (North America, Central America, Caribbean)

3 teams from CONCACAF qualify for the world cup finals and 1 competes in the playoff.

After three rounds, Canada became the first country to make it to the world cup finals.

The other two CONCACAF teams that qualified are Mexico and USA who booked their spots 3 days after Canada.

Costa Rica, secured their place after they knocked out New Zealand in the playoff

CAF (Africa) – Of the 54 affiliated nations in the African continent, 5 can secure spots in the world cup finals.

Here are the qualified teams –

• Cameroon
• Morocco
• Senegal
• Ghana
• Tunisia

AFC (Asia) – The Asian confederation has 4 or 5 spots at the world event.

4 teams that have directly secured a place in the world cup finals are Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Japan.

Australia qualified after beating UAE and secured their place after winning Peru on June 13 for a spot in the world cup finals.

OFC (Oceania) – New Zeeland lost the only place in this region after losing to Costa Rica at the Playoff.

11 FIFA-affiliated nations squared off for a playoff spot. After three rounds, New Zealand secured an intercontinental playoff berth.

The Draw

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The much-awaited FIFA world cup 2022 draw took place on April 1 in Doha, Qatar, and now we have all the groups and their teams.

Group A – Here is the group which will kick off the world cup 2022 as host Qatar takes on Ecuador at Al Bayt Stadium.

• Qatar
• Ecuador
• Senegal
• Netherlands

While Senegal is coming to Qatar 2022 on the back of a title win at the African Cup of Nations in 2021, there is also the three-time world cup finalist Netherlands to watch out for in this group.

Group B – This is an exciting group for the England fans who are waiting for Harry Kane to surpass Wayne Rooney’s goals tally.

• England
• Iran
• USA
• Wales

Group C – Get ready for some high-profile action as Messi goes up against Lewandowski as Argentina and Poland meet in the world cup for the 3rd time.

• Argentina
• Saudi Arabia
• Mexico
• Poland

Group D – One would consider this as an easy opportunity for the 2018 champions to qualify for the next round.

• France
• Australia
• Denmark
• Tunisia

The Danes cannot be underestimated after their performance in the Euro 2020. They will be a strong contender in this group.

Group E – Brace yourself for flashbacks of the 2010 world cup semi-final as Spain and Germany are drawn in the same group.

• Spain
• Costa Rica
• Germany
• Japan

While there may not be an obvious group of death in Qatar 2022, Group E is certainly one of the toughest.

Group F – The runners up of the 2018 world cup are drawn into this group against the second-ranked football team in the world, Belgium

• Belgium
• Canada
• Morocco
• Croatia

Group G – Except for one, Brazil will be playing the same teams the Neymar-led side defeated in the 2018 world cup group stage. Given this group, no wonder Brazil is the favorite to win the world cup.

• Brazil
• Serbia
• Switzerland
• Cameroon

Group H – This group, along with group E, is one of the toughest and closest to being the group of death. Portugal will be out to avenge their loss to Uruguay in 2018 that led to their elimination.

• Portugal
• Ghana
• Uruguay
• South Korea

Christiano Ronaldo’s last chance to win the world cup makes this group even more exciting to follow in Qatar 2022.

Tournament

• The tournament will progress through multiple stages that include the group stage, round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the final.
• There are 32 teams in the Qatar 2022 world cup divided into 8 groups. The top two teams from each group will progress to the next stage which is the round of 16.
• The round of 16 marks the beginning of the knockout stage of the world cup. 8 teams, all winners of the Round of 16, will qualify for the quarter-finals.
• Winners of these matches will then compete in the semi-finals and eventually two winners from the semi-finals will clash in the world cup 2022 final at the Lusai Stadium on December 18.
• A day before the world cup 2022 final, the losers of the semi-final will face off in the 3rd place playoff at Al Rayyan.
• The group stage will start with Qatar taking on Ecuador in the first match of the world cup on November 21.
• During the group stage, four matches will be played every day. Whereas, during the round of 16 and quarter-finals, two matches will be played per day

The Playoffs

Explain about the playoffs, under the text we’ll place the bracket.

All but three teams have secured their spot in the world cup 2022. Two teams will come through the intercontinental playoffs while one will make its way through the European playoff.

AFC and CONMEBOL both have 4 or 5 spots at the world cup. That means 4 teams from each of these federations make it directly to the world cup while the 5th team has to compete in a playoff.

In a similar fashion, the CONCECAF confederation too has one playoff spot and that team will compete with the playoff team from the OFC which has zero teams qualifying directly to the world cup

World Cup 2026

For a very long time, all the football fans were well versed in the qualifications, draws, and tournament structure of the world’s biggest football event.

However, with the world cup 2026 bringing in 48 teams, an extra round will be added in the knockout stage.

Till 2022, winners and runners-up from the groups would go to the round of 16, from the world cup 2026 onward, the group stage will be followed by a round of 32.

There will be 16 groups with 3 teams each and one will get eliminated as the top two progress to the knockout stage

The buzz around world cup 2022 is ever so high and fans are looking for dates and timings before they go ahead and book tickets to the world’s biggest sports tournament.

Here are the important dates and timings you should know about the Qatar 2022 world cup –

The draw – The draw took place on April 1 in Doha and it saw some of the most exciting groups with rival teams being drawn against each other.

Qualifiers – All the qualifiers have taken place with just two intercontinental playoff matches and one European playoff remaining.

June 5, 2022 – Wales will play either Ukraine or Scotland in the UEFA playoff

June 13, 2022 – Australia or UAE will face off with Peru in the first intercontinental playoff

June 14, 2022 – Costa Rica vs New Zealand

The winners of the above fixtures will secure their place in the world cup 2022.

Group Stage – The group stage of FIFA World Cup 2022 will commence on November 20 with Qatar taking on Ecuador and will conclude on December 2.

Knockout Stage – The round of 16 will start on December 3 and finish on December 6.

4 quarter-finals will be played over a period of two days – December 9 and December 10.

The semi-finals will be held on December 13 and December 14

The Qatar world cup 2022 final will take place on 18th December 2022. Whereas, the third-place playoff will take place on December 17.

While the dates and structure are alright, a football fan wants to know when can they watch the match in Indian time.

Here is a quick guide to FIFA World Cup 2022 timings –

• Group Stage has 4 matches every day and their timings will be 3:30 PM, 6:30 PM, 9:30 PM, and 12:30 AM IST.
• Round of 16 will see two matches played per day and their timings in IST are 8:30 PM and 10:30 PM.
• Quarter Final 1 will start at 8:30 PM while the second quarter-final will commence at 10:30 PM IST.
• Quarter Final 3 and 4 will be played at 8:30 and 10:30 PM IST respectively.
• The two semi-finals on December 13 and 14 are scheduled for a 10:30 PM IST start.
• Whereas, the third-place playoff and the Final are will start at 8:30 PM IST

A country that had only 1 stadium when they won the bidding for hosting the world cup in 2010, today has 8 stadiums that will host the world cup 2022 matches.

Check out the stadiums Qatar has prepared for football’s biggest event –

Al Thumama Stadium

• LaunchedDate- 22 October 2022
• Location – Doha
• Capacity- 40,000
• Construction cost – $342 million
• Matches – group stage, Round of 16, quarter-finals

The stadium was designed by Ibrahim M Jaidah and the shape of it is like the head cap worn by men in the Arab countries also known as ‘gahfiya’.

Khalifa Internatinal Stadium

• Launch Date – May 19, 2017
• Location – Doha
• Capacity – 45,416
• Construction cost – $374 million
• Matches – Group Stage, Round of 16, and Third-place playoff

The Khalifa International Stadium was first opened in 1976 and has been the epicenter of soccer in Qatar. It has hosted international events such as AFC Cup, Gulf Cup, and Asian Games. It was renovated for the World Cup 2022 between 2014 and 2017.

Al Bayt Stadium

• Launch Date – November 30, 2021
• Location – Al Khor
• Capacity – 60,000
• Construction cost – $847 million
• Matches – Group Stage, Round of 16, Quarter Final, and Semi-Final

With a total of 9 world cup matches, Al Bayt is an all-important venue for Qatar 2022. The tent-shaped stadium is the second largest capacity venue in this world cup. The stadium draws its name from the nomadic tribes of Qatar and the Persian Gulf and its design is also inspired by the local culture.

Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium

• Launch Date – December 18, 2020
• Location – Al Rayyan
• Capacity – 40,000
• Construction cost – $360 million
• Matches – Group Stage and Round of 16

This stadium is built in the place of the original Al Rayyan stadium that was demolished and 90% of its material was re-used for building the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium. Post the Amir Cup 2020 final, the stadium was launched on Qatar’s National Day.

Lusail Iconic Stadium

• Launch Date – 22 November 2021
• Location – Lusail
• Capacity – 80,000
• Construction cost – $767 million
• Matches – Group Stage, Round of 16, Quarter Final, Semi-final, Final

Lusail Iconic Stadium will host the world cup 2022 final and had to be the biggest and most spectacular venue of Qatar 2022. The architecture resembles the art from the Arab world. The stadium is located in the hypermodern city of Lusail near Doha, which hosted the Doha Grand Prix in 2021 and has a Formula One race track.

Education City Stadium

• Launch Date – June 15, 2020
• Location – Al Rayyan
• Capacity – 40,000
• Construction cost – $700 million
• Matches – Group Stage, Round of 16, and Quarter Final

Located in the education hub of Qatar in Al Rayyan, the Education City Stadium is one of the most environmentally sustainable stadiums in the world. In 2019, this Qatar 2022 venue received a 5-star GSASrating. It is also one of the most expensive stadiums built for the world cup.

Stadium 974

• Launch Date – November 20, 2021
• Location – Doha
• Capacity – 40000
• Matches – Group Stage and Round of 16

Stadium 974 has a facade that is built using 974 shipping containers. This is the first-ever demountable stadium in world cup history and will not need the Advanced Cooling that the rest of the Qatar 2022 stadiums are equipped with.

Al Janoub Stadium

• Launch Date – May 16, 2019
• Location – Al-Wakrah
• Capacity – 40,000
• Construction Cost – $656 million
• Matches – Group Stage and Round of 16

Inspired by the sails of Dhow boats, Al Janoub Stadium’s architecture refers to different aspects of sailing. Designed by Zaha Hadid, the stadium’s exterior refers to the sea-faring history of Al Wakrah.

Conclusion

It is one of the greatest feats of modern architecture and construction that 7 stadiums with advanced cooling tech and 40,000 or more seating capacity were erected on a deadline.

We are witnessing some never seen facilities in a world cup stadium such as Advanced Cooling Tech, a demountable stadium built by shipping containers, and mind-blowing costs of construction.

Qatar will definitely set the bar very high for the future hosts of the world cup, especially with its hypermodern city of Lusail and a metro network that connects all the venues

FIFA has released the official song for Qatar 2022 world cup. On 3rd April, the first song of the official world cup 2022 soundtrack, Hayya Hayya (Better Together) was released.

While it premiered on FIFA’s youtube channel, Hayya Hayya was performed at the world cup draw in Doha.

The song features American stars Trinidad Cardano, Davido, and famous Qatari singer Aisha.

2022 World Cup’s soundtrack will feature a multi-song collection as FIFA aims at a diversity of artists and their music genres.

Top 10 Best World Cup songs of all time

1. La Copa De La Vida, Ricky Martin, 1998, France
2. Waka Waka, Shakira and Freshly Ground, 2010, South Africa
3. Gloryland, Daryl Hall and Sound of Blackness, 1994, USA
4. El Mundial, Buenos Aires Musical Symphony, 1978, Argentina
5. Live it Up, Nicky Jam, Will Smith, Era Istrefi, 2018, Russia
6. Mundial 82, Placido Domingo, 1982, Spain
7. We Are One, Pitbull, Jeniffer Lopez, and Claudia Leitte, 2014, Brazil
8. Time of Our Lives, II Divo and Toni Braxton, 2006, Germany
9. Futbol, Marya Rodowicz, 1974, Germany
10. Boom, Antascia, 2002, Korea/Japan

The official ball of the world cup 2022 has been revealed.

Al Rihla will be the 14th consecutive official world cup ball that is designed by Adidas. Among many other firsts or the best feats we’ve witnessed this world cup, the official ball, Al Rihla is one of them.

No other world cup official match ball can match the speed with which Al Rihla will travel in flight.

Just like the stadiums, the name of the official balls is also inspired by the architecture and iconic boats in the peninsular region and is designed while caring for the environment.

Al Rihla translates to ‘the journey’ in Arabic and is made using only water-based glues and inks

Top 10 World Cup balls of all time

1. Fevernova, Adidas, 2002, South Korea/Japan
2. Telstar, Adidas, 1970, Mexico, first black and white ball used in world cup finals
3. Al Rihla, Adidas, 2022, Qatar, ‘fastest in flight’ world cup ball
4. Brazuka, Adidas, 2014, Brazil, first ball to be named by the supporters
5. Tricolore, Adidas, 1998, France, the first multicolored ball to be used in world cup finals
6. Teamgeist, Adidas, 2006, Germany
7. Azteca, Adidas, 1986, Mexico, first fully synthetic and hand-sewed FIFA world cup ball
8. Tango, Adidas, 1978, Argentina,
9. Telstar Durlast, 1974, West Germany, waterproof, first polyurethane coated ball to feature in world cup finals
10. Etrusco Unico, 1990, Italy

The official kits for the world cup 2022 haven’t been released yet. Puma will be the first to release its official world cup kits in late May 2022. Adidas and Nike are likely to follow the suit in August and September 2022.

While none of the kits are yet revealed, here are some of the possibilities –

• From Group A, Netherlands are said to sport an orange home kit and a dark blue away kit at the 2022 world cup.
• From Group B, as reports indicate, England home and away kits are likely to have unusual colors. The home kit will have navy and sky blue with white while the away kit can be a combination of red with navy, sky blue, and maroon.
• Argentina are likely to go with their white and blue kits.
• Whereas, the favorites to win the title, Brazil, are likely to come with a yellow with polo collar for their home matches in Qatar 2022.
• Portugal’s home jersey can be expected to have red with golden-yellow accents while the away kit is likely to be beige with dark blue.

• Brazil, the most successful team with 5 titles, is also the only team to have participated in every world cup finals tournament.
• Winning the 1958 and 1962 world cups, Brazil became the second country to have successfully defended the title. Since then, no team has won back-to-back world cups.
• Qatar will be the smallest country to ever host a FIFA World Cup.
• Qatar 2022 will be the most sustainable world cup ever
• The first-ever world cup to be hosted by two different nations was the 2002 Japan/Korea world cup.
• Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El Hadary became the oldest player to play in the world cup at the age of 45 when he represented his country in Russia, 2018

Qatar 2022 will be the 22nd edition of the world cup. With many contenders for the title, you might want to take a walk down the memory lane and see which teams have dominated the world’s biggest football tournaments over the years

• Uruguay, 1930, Uruguay
• Italy, 1934, Italy
• Italy, 1938, France
• Uruguay, 1950, Brazil
• West Germany, 1954, Switzerland
• Brazil, 1958, Sweden
• Brazil, 1962, Chile
• England, 1966, England
• Brazil, 1970, Mexico
• West Germany, 1974, West Germany
• Argentina, 1978, Argentina
• Italy, 1982, Spain
• Argentina, 1986, Mexico
• West Germany 1990, Italy
• Brazil, 1994, USA
• France, 1998, France
• Brazil, 2002, Japan
• Italy, 2006, Germany
• Spain,2010, South Africa
• Germany, 2014, Brazil
• France, 2018, Russia

In Qatar 2022, Brazil are the top favorite in the outright winner market followed closely by defending champions France, and the Euro 2020 finalists England.

England are in great form and drawn in an easy group that will allow them to make their way to the round of 16. Will the three lions’ wait for their second title finally comes to an end, is anybody’s guess

With Messi, Ronaldo, Lewandowski, and other big stars likely to be playing in their last world cup, the top goalscorer contest will be the most exciting ever. Every football fan knows the significance of the golden boot in a player’s career.

Here are the top goal scorers of previous world cup editions from most number of goals in a world cup to the least –

• Just Fontaine (France) 13 Goals 1958
• Sandor Kocsis (Hungary) 11 Goals 1954
• Gerd Muller (Germany) 10 Goals 1970
• Eusebio (Portugal) 9 Goals 1966
• Guillermo Stabile (Argentina) 8 goals 1930
• Ademir (Brazil) 8 goals 1950
• Ronaldo (Brazil) 8 goals 2002
• Leonidas (Brazil) 7 goals 1938
• Grzegorz Lato (Poland) 7 goals 1974
• Mario Kempes (Argentina) 6 goals 1978
• Paolo Rossi (Italy) 6 goals 1982
• Gary Lineker (England) 6 goals 1986
• Salvator Schillachi (Italy) 6 goals 1990
• Oleg Salenko (Russia), Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) 6 goals 1994
• Davor Suker (Croatia) 6 goals 1998
• James Rodriguez (Colombia) 6 goals 2014
• Harry Kane (England ) 6 goals 2018
• Miroslav Klose (Germany) 5 goals 2006
• Oldrich Nejedy (Czechoslovakia) 5 goals 1934
• Florian Albert (Hungary) 4 goals 1962

Harry Kane is the favorite on most of the world cup betting sites to be the top goalscorer in Qatar 2022. He is just 4 goals away from breaking Wayne Rooney’s record of most world cup goals for England.

Looking at the group England is drawn into, we reckon, Harry has a great chance at netting the most goals this year. Another most promising player in the contention for the golden boot is Kylian Mbappe

With Qatar being in the headlines everywhere for its preparations for the 2022 world cup, here is a look at the hosts of the FIFA world cup over the years –

• Russia, 2018
• Brazil, 2014
• South Africa, 2010
• Germany, 2006
• Japan/Korea, 2002
• France, 1998
• USA, 1994
• Italy, 1990
• Mexico, 1986
• Spain, 1982
• Argentina, 1978
• West Germany, 1974
• Mexico, 1970
• England, 1966
• Chile, 1962
• Sweden, 1958
• Switzerland, 1954
• Brazil, 1950
• France, 1938
• Italy, 1934
• Uruguay, 1930

With Qatar 2022 just a few months away, it is a good time to refresh our memories with the best of world cup records and stats that show just why the FIFA world cup is the biggest sports event in the world –

• Lothar Matthaus of Germany has the record for the most number of World Cup appearances at 25
• Spain became the champion in 2010 scoring only 8 goals in the tournament. This is the lowest number of goals for any world cup champion ever.
• Korea/Japan 2002 was the world cup with the most number of stadiums -20.
• With 12 own goals, Russia 2018, was the world cup with the most number of own goals.
• Hungary holds the record for most goals in a single world cup match with their 10 goals against El Salvador in Spain in 1982.
• Almost half of the world, around 3.2 billion viewers watched the 2018 world cup

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H