FIFA has decided to modify the World Cup calendar to allow Qatar, host country, to open the competition against Ecuador, on November 20 at 7 p.m., at the Al-Bayt stadium -Khor, north of Doha.
Le Monde with AFP
The ball will run a day earlier than expected for the 2022 Football World Cup, after decision of the International Football Federation (FIFA). “The ceremony and the opening match of the competition at the Al Beyt stadium were thus put forward one day on a unanimous decision of the FIFA Council office today,” said the body on Thursday, August 11 In the evening, in a press release.
Consequently, the match between the host country and Ecuador, initially scheduled for November 21, will take place on Sunday, November 20 at 7 p.m. local time (5 p.m. Paris time) at the Al-Bayt stadium in Al-Khor , north of Doha, while the meeting – which was to be inaugural – opposing Senegal in the Netherlands, initially scheduled at 1 p.m. local on Monday, November 21, was shifted at 7 p.m. the same day.
This decision will reconnect with a recent tradition according to which the first match of each World Cup is disputed by the host country, like Russia-Arabia Saudi during the 2018 edition.
“L ‘Opportunity for a life for Qatar “
“Playing the opening match of the first World Cup played in the Middle East and in the Arab world is the opportunity for a life for Qatar, reacted the organizing committee in a press release. The world will look Our proud nation kicks off the biggest sporting event against Ecuador. “
FIFA explains that it has made this decision “following an assessment of the sports and operational implications of this reprogramming, as well as an exhaustive consultation process and an agreement with the main stakeholders and the host country, having then resulted in an agreement “.
“Ticket holders will be duly informed by email of the new programming of the matches concerned, for which their tickets remain valid. In addition, FIFA will make sure to solve any problem caused by this change on a case -by -case basis”, Is it added. The body finally specifies that the period of provision of players will remain unchanged, still beginning on November 14, 2022.
On the side of economic partners, this very unusual change will be “managed”, had assured Jaime byrom, president of the hospital match, company with an agreement with FIFA on Wednesday to organize accommodation packages for the games of the Cup world and which has reserved 450,000 tickets for the tournament.
“Compared to the other challenges that we could have encountered or that we have encountered in the past, this is really not a very important problem,” byrom told the France-Presse agency (AFP) . “We are going to be interested in our Ecuadorian customers who travel from abroad, and ensure that they are in time for the match,” he said.
modification of the countdown of the hundred days
The opening match is planned at the Al-Bayt stadium, with a capacity of 60,000 seats, one of the seven new sites built specially for the tournament since the allocation of the World Cup to Qatar in 2010 . The rich gas state of the Gulf is preparing a spectacular opening ceremony for the World Cup in this stage, the structure of which was inspired by the traditional tents of the Gulf Bedouins.
The change of date of the opening match implies a change in the countdown of the hundred days preceding the World Cup which was to be launched on Saturday, with events organized that day through the emirate of 2.8 million inhabitants, including approximately 90 % foreigners.