OFFICIAL: FIFA Announce Change of Date for the Qatar 2022 World Cup

The body governing football in the world, FIFA have announced the change in date ahead of the World Cup that will be hosted in Qatar.

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FIFA announced that the date is now changed from November 21st, 2022 to November 20th, 2022 which will allow the host nation to play the first game. Qatar will play Ecuador on the new date after the opening ceremony of the match at the Al Bayt Stadium.

The decision followed an assessment of the competition and operational implications, as well as a thorough consultation process and an agreement with key stakeholders and the host country. The release period, as previously decided and as governed by the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, will remain unchanged, beginning on 14 November 2022. Ticket holders will be duly notified by email that the relevant matches have been rescheduled and their tickets will remain valid irrespective of the new date/time.

The opening fixture of the competition, according to the fixtures calendar that was released by FIFA is a game between Africa Champions, Senegal and the European side, the Netherlands.

The last four editions of the FIFA World Cup has seen the host nation play the opening game of the competition. Germany beat Costa Rica in 2006, South Africa were held 1-1 by Mexico in 2010, Brazil defeated Croatia in 2014 and Russia got past Saudi Arabia at the 2018 World Cup.

The last time a host nation failed to play the opening game of the competition was in 2002 when Senegal beat France in Korea/Japan 2002.