The 22nd edition of the world’s most renowned men sporting tournaments, the FIFA World Cup, kicks off this Sunday in Qatar. This event expects to draw over 1.2 million tourists and about 5 billion viewers from home. It may sound like a lot, but consider how the last World Cup in Russia attracted about 3.5 billion viewers in total, and 1.12 billion for the World Cup final alone. Superstars like Messi (Argentina), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Kylian MBappe and Benzema (France), Neymar (Brazil), Christian Pulisic (USA) and Harry Kane (England) are expected to take the stage. For a full list of each squad, click here.
The format
Each of the six soccer confederations had a set number of World Cup slots, each had its internal qualifier competition to determine which countries would take a slot. For example, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) can only send 13 teams to the World Cup. Other confederations like the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) have 4.5 slots, that half corresponding to one team that qualifies for an inter-confederation play-off.
The other confederations also have direct and indirect slots. Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is the only confederation with no direct slots, with only half a place.
While some teams are always expected to qualify, like Brazil and Germany, this format has allowed up-and-coming teams to take the stage. Amongst them have been Panama (2018) and Ukraine (2006). This edition also marks the Qatar national team’s first World Cup appearance.
Once in competition, 32 teams from five different football confederations will compete in eight groups of four, A through H. All teams in each group will play against each other, and only the two top teams to obtain more points will make it to the knockout stage. Winning a match gets a team three points, one if they draw, and zero if they lose. If two teams are tied on the final point count, the goal difference will be considered.
The knockout stage starts at round 16, with half of the teams already eliminated, then to quarterfinals, semifinals, the third-place playoff and the final, totaling 64 games.
The favorites and the no-shows
This year, France enters the competition as Russia 2018’s winner, and they are still very much a favorite for this year. Only eight countries have ever won the World Cup, and the last time there was a World Cup winner for the first time was in 2010 with Spain. While it is very likely one of these teams wins again, countries like Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal are also favorites. There is the known champion’s curse, where they get eliminated at the group stage of the following competition. This has happened in the last four competitions; time will tell France will face the same fate.
There is a lot of great talent outside of the favorites list. Do not turn your eye away from teams like the USA, Serbia, Mexico or Poland. Do not turn your eye away from any team. World Cup upsets are far more common than one would expect.
Countries that have performed well in the past, such as Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Sweden and Italy (a 2-time World Cup champion), failed to qualify this time.
A UNIQUE World cup
Twelve years ago, FIFA announced Qatar had won the bid to host the 2022 World Cup, beating Japan and the United States. It will be the first Middle Eastern country to host the event. Unlike its predecessors which hosted the World Cup between the months of May-July, Qatar will be the first World Cup to be hosted in November-December–this is due to Qatar’s extreme summer conditions, reaching up to 120 degrees.
Hosting the tournament in the winter presents challenges for leagues that are forced to interrupt their club season. Leagues around the world like La Liga, and Premier League stopped their competitions on Nov. 12-13, giving their players a one-week window to reunite with their national squad and ease into the World Cup stage–significantly less time than in the previous tournaments.
Fox Sports, which has broadcasting rights in the United States, is forced to split its time between the World Cup and the NFL season for the first time.
Qatar is a very small country, of about 4,416 square miles. All eight stadiums are located within 21 miles of the capital, Doha. In past editions, stadiums would be spread around the country, making Qatar 2022 the most compact World Cup in history.
Because of the country’s size, some of the tournament’s hotels are cruise ships to accommodate as many fans as possible, though many will still need to travel to neighboring countries like Omen and Saudi Arabia for accommodations. Qatar also built an airport expansion, a new metro, and eight new stadiums, totaling about $220 billion.
Qatar 2022, Mired with Controversy
Qatar as a host has been put into question with various accusations of corruption and vote-swapping during the bidding process. There have also been human rights violations in preparation for the event. Namely, migrant worker abuse after the start of the venues’ construction in 2014.
Qatar organizers also claimed that the tournament would be carbon-neutral, with all eight stadiums being constructed with recycled material and using sustainable designs. However, FIFA estimates the tournament will produce 3.6 million tons of carbon dioxide. Amongst the reasons for this is air travel, given Qatar’s low accommodation for fans, they will have to stay in neighboring countries. Other reasons are the stadium construction (seven built completely from scratch), a new airport, new public transportation, hotels and surprisingly, the water to maintain stadium grass (which amounts to about 10,000 liters per day for each stadium).
Qatar also considers homosexuality a crime and Qatar’s World Cup ambassador claims it is “damage in the mind”. This comment has prompted multiple celebrities to boycott the event, one of them Dua Lipa who says, “I will be cheering England on from afar and I look forward to visiting Qatar when it has fulfilled all the human rights pledges it made when it won the right to host the World Cup.” Other artists like Rob Stewart and Melanie C from the Spice Girls have also boycotted the event.
Where to watch?
For an English narration, Fox Sports and FS1 will broadcast the event. For Spanish, NBC’s Telemundo and NBC’s Peacock premium streaming service will broadcast the event.
The World Cup kicks off this Sunday, Nov. 20 at 11 a.m. EST. Its host Qatar will play the opening match against Ecuador for Group A. For a full schedule, click here.
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