FIFA confirmed on Thursday evening that the 2022 FIFA World Cup will start a day earlier than scheduled, on Sunday November 20. The opening match of the World Cup, Qatar – Ecuador, will take place that day at 7:00 p.m. local (5:00 p.m. Belgian), at the Al-Bayt stadium in Al-Khor, north of Doha, the capital of Qatar.
The FIFA Council officially approved the schedule change on Thursday.
This decision makes it possible to reconnect with 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. November 21, before Qatar-Ecuador therefore, at 1 p.m. local time (11 a.m. Belgian) between Senegal and the Netherlands.
As part of this change, the Netherlands – Senegal match on November 21 is moved from 1 p.m. local (11 a.m. Belgian) to 7 p.m. (5 p.m.).
The England-Iran match, in Group B, remains scheduled for Sunday November 21 at 4 p.m. local time (2 p.m. Belgian) and that between the United States and Wales on the same day at 10 p.m. (8 p.m. Belgian).
The Red Devils will start their tournament against Canada on November 23 at 10:00 p.m. local (8:00 p.m. Belgian).
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.