The 2022 World Cup in Qatar will start ahead of schedule. The Fifa Bureau decided this Thursday “unanimously” to advance the match between Qatar and Ecuadorwhich will replace Senegal-Netherlands as the first match of the competition, which maintains its date, as announced by the organization in a statement.
“With this change, a long tradition is maintained whereby the hosts or the defending champions open the tournament,” explained FIFA. Thus, the inaugural meeting will be on November 20, and not on the 21st as planned.
From Germany 1974 to South Korea and Japan 2002, the person in charge of opening the World Cup was the champion of the previous tournament, while from Germany 2006 to Russia 2018 it was the venue that started the tournament.
The World Cup will kick off with an even bigger celebration for fans from Qatar and around the world. On Sunday, November 20, the hosts will face Ecuador at 19:00 (local time), in what will be the only match of the day.
“As a consequence, the match between Senegal and the Netherlands (which originally marked the start of the competition) It will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Monday.November 21, instead of at 1:00 p.m., ”Fifa continued.
Despite the advancement of a day of the start of the World Cup, Fifa explained that “the period of transfer of players” by the clubs to the national teams will continue to begin on November 14, “as it had been decided and is stipulated in the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players”.
“Ticket holders will receive an email informing them of those matches that have undergone changes. The locations will remain valid for the new dates and times. Also, Fifa will try to solve any problem that arises from this change on a case-by-case basis,” the agency added.