We are just one day away from the 2022 FIFA World Cup. This time, we’ll fly to the Middle East where the biggest football event on planet earth will be held in Qatar. Anticipation is rising the closer we get to November 20. Before we’re going to celebrate football in its most grand stage, here’s a little reading for you to get to know the FIFA World Cup and, specifically, the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Back in the Day: The First Ever FIFA World Cup
Let’s walk down a memory lane for a bit. The first FIFA World Cup was held in Uruguay from July 13 to 30 1930. So, that marked the birth of this international football competition. Uruguay, who were the host, also became the first ever winner of the FIFA World Cup with a 4–2 comeback victory.
The World Cup as a competition was born in 1930, but do you know that the beginning of it can be traced back to the early 1900s? Olympics.com records how the World Cup was actually an interesting topic going around at the Olympics. In the 1900 and 1904 Olympics, football already existed but only as a demonstration sport. It was only later in the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium that football became the first intercontinental football championships at the Olympics. FIFA, who in their 1914 Congress submitted a proposal to recognize football tournament in the Olympics as a ‘world football championship for amateurs’, then became more aware of football’s attraction around the globe and wanted to construct another world championship outside the Olympics.
May 28, 1928 was the time FIFA held their Congress in Amsterdam, which led to the birth of the FIFA World Cup as their own international football championship. Uruguay, who were also celebrating their 100th anniversary of independence, took the spot as the first World Cup host country, putting aside the likes of Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. The first World Cup was held as an invitational tournament to every FIFA-affiliated country. For now, the tournament always has qualifiers to determine the participants, making the 1930 edition was the first and last World Cup with no qualifiers.
There were 13 nations who took part in the first World Cup edition (Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, France, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Romania, United States, Uruguay, and Yugoslavia). Unfortunately only a few European countries became participants in the first FIFA World Cup due to economic depression. Up until 1950, the participants were around 13–16 countries. From there the number of participants started to increase. Since the 1998 World Cup in France, up until today, the World Cup has 32 nations competing to become the World Title holder.
The Game: How to Play in the FIFA World Cup
No, this section is not some kind of… tips. This part will explain how a national team can get their feet stepped into the biggest football stage in the world. As said before, the FIFA World Cup now has a qualifying round. With the host nation automatically qualified for the World Cup, national teams around the world should take the qualifying round in order to secure their place in the World Cup.
The nations are divided by their regions based on their football association for the qualifier: Europe (UEFA), South America (CONMEBOL), North America (CONCACAF), Africa (CAF), Asia (AFC), and Oceania (OFC). Each region has their own process, different number of qualifiers, and different spots available.
The regions also have different times of when they begin their qualifying round. For instance, this year’s World Cup, qualifying round for European countries took place from March to November 2021 while the qualifying in Africa began in September 2019 for the first round and second round (group stage) in September 2021.
The qualified teams are determined by their final place on the standings at the end of the qualifying. But, there’s more to it. There are play-offs round, giving the chance to the teams that ended up outside the “qualified zone” to secure the last few spots. The play-offs round could be an intercontinental one, meaning it is possible for teams from different regions to face each other. Once the play-offs round is completed, then we have the final teams competing against each other in the World Cup.
Present Day: 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar
It’s almost go time for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, so let’s talk about it!
Teams and Matches
Let’s begin with the basics. There are 32 teams competing to lift the World Cup trophy. The teams are divided into eight groups, which means every group consists of four teams with the host nation is in Group A. There are 64 matches, with the opening match between Qatar and Ecuador taking the first matchday on November 20 2022, and the final match is set to be played on December 18.
The Ball, The Mascot and Official Song
Now, what is a World Cup without a mascot? Zakumi, Fuleco, and Zabivaka are the mascots from the last four World Cups. Everyone, please meet La’eeb, the official mascot of the 2022 World Cup. La’eeb itself is an Arabic word meaning super-skilled player. According to fifa.com, La’eeb’s personality is fun, adventurous, and curious and has youthful spirit. Besides the mascot, another thing that is attached to this tournament is the official song. This year’s official song is called “Hayya Hayya” meaning “Better Together” performed by Trinidad Cardona, Davido, and Aisha. One thing that we can’t forget for the World Cup is the ball (of course.. duh?) Al Rihla is the official matchball for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Al Rihla in Arabic means “the journey”. Sure, the expected-to-be-the fastest in flight-in World Cup history-ball will witness the journey of the teams on their way to victory.
The Firsts
The fact that this is the first time ever the tournament will be hosted in the Middle East, it means this is also the first ever winter World Cup. Yes, did you notice the date? The 2022 World Cup will be held from November 20 to December 18. This year’s World Cup will take place in winter months rather than its usual summer schedule, this is due to the extreme heat in which Qatar could face in June-July. So, in this case you’ll see some kind of “winter break” for the domestic football league.
The Tech
The 2022 World Cup will use the Video Assistant Referee also known as VAR. The VAR was also used in the 2018 World Cup. You already know VAR from watching club football and probably… some of its controversies? Will we see such a controversial VAR decision in this year’s World Cup? Well, let’s wait and see. Other than VAR, the 2022 World Cup will also use a semi-auto offside system. With 12 tracking cameras around the stadium and sensor measurement in the ball, this system will make offside decisions more accurate and faster.
The Referee
There are 36 names on the referee list for the 2022 World Cup, but there is something different about it–a good difference that is! Yes, FIFA has appointed three female referees alongside with three female assistant referees to be the match officials for this year’s World Cup. History has been made, this will be the first time opposite gender referees have led men’s football matches, not to mention in the World Cup. The female referees are Stephanie Frappart (France), Salima Mukansanga (Rwanda), and Yoshimi Yamashita (Japan). Neuza Back (Brazil), Karen Diaz Medina (Mexico), and Kathryn Nesbitt (USA) are the female assistant referees for the 2022 World Cup.
The Stadiums
Qatar has prepared eight stadiums for the 2022 World Cup. Regarding the heat and warm weather, the stadiums will have an air conditioning system to beat it out. Lusail Stadium (80.000 seats), Al Bayt Stadium (60.000), Al Janoub Stadium (40.000), Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium (44.740), Khalifa International Stadium (45.416), Education City Stadium (45.350), Stadium 974 (40.000), and Al Thumama Stadium (40.000) are set to be the battlegrounds for the team. The opening match will be played in Al Bayt Stadium, while Lusail Stadium will be the venue for the final match. Who will lift the trophy in Lusail Stadium? Only one way to find out, right?
Not All Sunshine and Rainbows
We all know, sometimes big occasions are surrounded by controversies. The 2022 World Cup is not an exception, starting with how Qatar ended up hosting this tournament. While it’s not a secret that Qatar–though it is a small country–has resources of money, there are reports saying that the process of making Qatar the World Cup host was coloured by corruption allegations, vote-swapping, and trade deals between the highest levels of the government and organization. It’s just one issue. Maybe you have heard the issue about how Qatar is mistreating the migrant workers. There are several reports related to “work related deaths” and how the living conditions are not ideal for the workers. The sources are up there on the internet for you to read. It sucks to be honest, because the 2022 World Cup is one of the most anticipated sports tournaments, but it’s glamour and blinking lights might conceal something you have to find out yourself.
The Watcher: Players and Teams-to-be-watched in the 2022 World Cup
It’s always exciting to watch teams and players play on the big stage, including the World Cup. Now, we will miss the likes of Jorginho, Donnarumma, Haaland, and Mo Salah in this year’s World Cup, due to their national team failing to get out of the qualifying round. But we do still have Messi, Neymar, Ronaldo, and Mbappe playing in the World Cup. While we all know those are the big names that almost everyone wants to see, there are other names–teams and/or players–you can put in your “To Be Watched” list.
All teams are in the eyes of the world. France–the reigning champion, Germany, Belgium, Brazil, Argentina, are just a few from “the big teams” and as the favoured team to win the World Cup. But there are also teams like Denmark, Croatia, South Korea, and Japan that could surprise us during the competition–also, Wales, the returnee and the United States who missed the 2018 edition.
The teams are decorated with star players who already taste their own version of success with their club, but the World Cup success? It’s a different kind. Whether the players already have tasted it or have not, they want to experience it all. Other than Messi, Ronaldo, and Neymar, there are the likes of Karim Benzema, Luka Modric and Olivier Giroud who are thriving with Real Madrid and AC Milan, Son Heung Min who won the Premier League Golden Ball last season, Harry Kane, Virgil van Dijk, and Fabinho each with the urge to bring the cup home.
Of course we can’t forget the youngsters. France’s Kylian Mbappe is still the one to watch. There are also Gavi and Ansu Fati, each vital to their clubs. Recent Champions League winners like Eduardo Camavinga, Rodrygo, and Vinicius Jr. You can add the likes of England’s Mason Mount, Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka, USA’s Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, and Taylor Adams, and Germany’s Kai Havertz, Jamal Musiala and Youssoufa Moukoko to the list.
What about the groups? It’s a common thing to look at which group is the group of death. What is this year’s World Cup group of death? Err… It’s not that easy to answer. Here we have Group E with Germany, Spain, Japan, and Costa Rica in it. We also have Argentina, Mexico, Poland, and Saudi Arabia in Group C. But then we have Belgium and Croatia in the same group alongside Canada and Morocco in Group F. So, it is safe to say that each group has strong teams and become their own “group of death”. It looks like no group outgroup the other group–group… ception?–if you know what I mean. Ok I’m going to say this: it looks like no certain group is dominating the whole group, there you go.
The countdown to the 2022 FIFA World Cup is almost over. Despite the controversies in the clouds above, the 2022 FIFA World Cup is going to give football fans around the globe a show to watch. Each team comes to the competition with their own mission and desire. Redemption, comebacks, defending the title, proving it to the world–all of that, filling the air in Qatar as teams go against each other to get their hands on the precious World Cup trophy. The teams will give their all and play their heart out in the grandest stage of football. Celebration awaits and who is going to be the Kings of the World? Time to find out and before you know it, we’re going to have a new–or old?–World Champion in football.
