The Bureau of the FIFA Council endorsed “on a unanimous decision“The advancement of a day of the opening match of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, announced the body Thursday evening in a press release, confirming information given the day before by sources close to the tournament.
The match between the host country of the competition and Ecuador, initially scheduled for November 21, will therefore take place on November 20 at 7 p.m. local time (5 p.m. in France), while the match between Senegal and the Netherlands, initially scheduled for 11:00 a.m. French time, Monday, November 21, was moved to 5:00 p.m. the same day.
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“The ceremony and the opening match of the competition at the Al Beyt stadium have thus been brought forward by one day following a unanimous decision by the Bureau of the FIFA Council today“, indicates the authority. This decision will make it possible to revive a recent tradition according to which the first match of each World Cup is disputed by the host country, like Russia-Saudi Arabia during the 2018 edition.
She was taken “following an assessment of the sporting and operational implications of this rescheduling, as well as an extensive consultation process and agreement with key stakeholders and the host country, resulting in an agreement“, explains FIFA. “Ticket holders will be duly informed by email of the new schedule of the matches concerned, for which their tickets remain valid. Additionally, FIFA will endeavor to resolve any issues caused by this change on a case-by-case basis.“, is it added. The body finally specifies that the period of availability of players will remain unchanged, always starting on November 14, 2022.
Changing the countdown
On the side of the economic partners, this very unusual change will be “managed“, assured Wednesday Jaime Byrom, president of Match Hospitality, a company with an agreement with FIFA to organize accommodation packages for World Cup matches and which has reserved 450,000 tickets for the tournament. “Compared to other challenges we might have had or have had in the past, this really isn’t a huge issue.“, Mr Byrom told AFP.
“We will look after our Ecuadorian customers who are traveling from abroad, and make sure they are in time for the gameThe opening match is scheduled for the 60,000-capacity Al-Bayt Stadium, one of seven new venues built specifically for the tournament since the World Cup was awarded to the country. Qatar in 2010. The gas-rich Gulf state is preparing a spectacular opening ceremony for the World Cup in this stadium, the structure of which was inspired by the traditional tents of the Gulf’s Bedouins.
The change in date for the opening game involves a change to the 100-day countdown to the World Cup which was due to kick off on Saturday, with events staged that day across the 2.8 million emirate inhabitants, approximately 90% of whom are foreigners. Qatar is the first country in the Middle East to host one of the biggest sporting events in the world. The competition has been moved from summer to late autumn 2022 due to extreme temperatures in the Gulf emirate.
While FIFA President Gianni Infantino has promised that Qatar will host the “best” World Cup ever, the country has come under heavy criticism over the rights of migrant workers as well as for its criminalization of homosexuality.
(With AFP)
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