Qatar 2022 World Cup Kick-Off Takes One Day Forward, Why?

Qatar 2022 World Cup
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The biggest football tournament in the world, the 2022 World Cup, which will take place in Qatar, has changed its schedule. The tournament kick-off which previously started on November 21, has now been moved forward by a day. Then, what is the cause?

The opening match of the 2022 World Cup will play the Qatar vs Ecuador national team on November 20 in the morning West Indonesia Time. This schedule has changed from the original plan to play the opening match on November 21.

The move, which must be approved by the FIFA Council before the 100-day countdown begins this week, maintains the tradition of the first match featuring the host nation.

Under existing rules, Netherlands vs Senegal should be the first match on November 21, followed by a match between Qatar and Ecuador on the same day.

World Cup sources say there will be confirmation of this change soon. FIFA and Qatar’s organizing committee declined to comment.

“There were talks and agreements between the two respective teams and there was a request from CONMEBOL, the South American confederation,” a World Cup source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“We want to follow the tradition that the reigning champions or the host nation compete in the opening match,” said the source. This change means the Netherlands vs Senegal match has been moved from 13:00 local time on 21 November to 19:00.

“The FIFA Administration has considered the legal and commercial implications of this proposal — including the impact on contractual commitments around media rights, sponsorship, ticketing, and hospitality — as well as the impact on international fans, and has determined that any risk is worth the value and benefits of this proposal. “

Qatar had turned down the opportunity to play in the opening match of the 2022 World Cup, which was originally scheduled for Monday 21 November at 13:00 local time (17:00 WIB).

The Daily Mail claims that the reason behind Qatar’s reluctance to appear in the opening match is that their Emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, wants to stage a lively fireworks display to mark Qatar’s first World Cup appearance.

It is claimed that the Emir was worried the excitement would diminish if Qatar played during the day instead of at night.

However, after going through a compromise process, Qatar agreed to keep the tradition and appear in the inaugural World Cup as the host.

Previously, the 2022 World Cup received a lot of criticism because FIFA allowed Qatar, which incidentally is one of the countries with the largest human rights violations in the world, to host the biggest tournament this year.

Qatar is a country that is less friendly to human rights, where foreign workers and immigrants are also widely reported to have suffered bad actions there.