A report by Al Jazeera states that the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ could start a day earlier than scheduled. The report mentioned that "the Qatar World Cup 2022 looks set to start a day earlier than scheduled, allowing the hosts to play the opening game of the tournament on 20 November 2022 following the opening ceremony."

"In the current fixture list released after the draw on April 1, Netherlands and Senegal play the first match of the World Cup at 1 pm (10:00 GMT) on 21 November 2022 with Qatar taking on Ecuador at 7 pm (16:00 GMT) in the third match taking place on the opening day."

The report also said that a proposal to create a 29-day tournament has already been agreed upon by the Qatari officials and the South American football body 'CONMEBOL'. "The move could be approved by the FIFA Council before the 100-day countdown starts this week. If approved, the opening ceremony also looks set to take place at Al Bayt Stadium, which will host the Qatar-Ecuador game, with the Netherlands versus Senegal taking up the evening spot the following day."

An AP News report said that "FIFA finalized a decision in 2015 to avoid the searing heat in Qatar’s summer and move to November and December, despite opposition from most of European soccer unhappy at shutting down their domestic leagues for several peak weeks. The Nov. 21-Dec. 18 tournament schedule was agreed to so that European clubs could play on the Nov. 12-13 weekend before releasing their players to the 32 World Cup teams."

As per reports, the tournament's final will take place on 18 December 2022.

Source: Al Jazeera, AP News
Cover image credit: Shutterstock

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