The 2022 Qatar World cup is coming up later this year, and the worlds nations are targeting their spot for this event. With the European Championships in 2020 being pushed back, this years football calendar is extremely condensed.
The 2022 tournament kicks off in the winter months, rather than during the summer. The first match will play on Monday, November 21st 2022 with the host country kicking off the tournament in the first match at Al Bayt stadium in Al Khor.
How long is the World Cup 2022?
The schedule for the FIFA world cup Qatar is only 28 days long, the shortest in 44 years. The final being on a Sunday, as per tradition, on December 18th 2022.
2022 World Cup provisional schedule
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Group stage: November 21- December 2
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Round of 16: December 3-6
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Quarter-finals: December 9/10
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Semi-finals: December 13/14
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Final: December 18
The World Cup qualifications are already well underway with a number of nations having secured spots for the games, and the official draw taking place in April.
Why is the 2022 World Cup in November?
When Qatar was announced to host the 2022 World Cup back in 2010, it was scheduled on the basis of the matches being staged in June and July, much like every previous tournament.
However, there was concern over the summer temperatures to host the World Cup in Qatar, which average at 41.2 degrees Celsius (106.2 Fahrenheit).
The summer heat prompted FIFA to consider moving the dates for the World cup 2022 to the winter months.
At the start of the year we can also see the winter Olympics taking place in February, Ramadan in April, and as mentioned the extreme heat in Qatar over May to September, it only made sense for the games to be moved to the end of the year.
When will the World cup schedule be finalised?
National teams will continue to play qualifiers right up until Spring 2022. Once each qualifying group has been determined, the World Cup draw will take place, this is expected around April 2022.
The draw determines who will play each other in the group stage out of the eight groups of four teams.
With the top two teams from each group continuing on to the knockout stage, culminating with the World Cup final at Lusail stadium on December 18th.
The times and stadiums of each match will be confirmed and filled in after this draw, this finalisation will allow fans to choose optimal kick-off times to suit television audiences in different time zones, as well as to help supporters, players and the media in Qatar get themselves ready for the tournament.
How many matches are in the World Cup Qatar 2022?
The 2022 World Cup will feature 32 teams in eight groups of four.
There are a total of 64 matches in the tournament, played over the 28 day period for this World Cup.
Four group games will be played each day during the group stage matches running over a 12 day period, coming to a total of 48 matches in this point of the tournament. In the final knockout round there are 16 matches.
What are the kick off times?
FIFA confirmed that the first two rounds of matches will kick off at 1pm, 4pm, 7pm and 10pm, Qatar local time.
In the final round of group games and knockout matches, kick off times will be at 6pm and 10pm local time.
With Qatar being three hours ahead of the UK, the kick-off times for UK watchers are:
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Group stage: 10 am, 1 pm, 4 pm and 7 pm.
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Final round of Group games and knock-out matches: 3 pm and 7 pm.
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Final: 3 pm.
Where will the World Cup take place?
The World Cup 2022 will take place across eight stadiums in and around Doha.
Each venue is within 46 miles of each other, making the 2022 World Cup and amazing opportunity for fans to take in more games than ever.
The World Cup venues are:
- Al Bayt Stadium
- Khalifa International Stadium
- Al Thumama Stadium
- Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium
- Lusail Stadium
- Ras Abu Aboud Stadium
- Education City Stadium
- Al Janoub Stadium
![Qatar map showing locations of stadiums]()
What teams have qualified so far?
A total of 15 teams have qualified for the FIFA World Cup so far, including the host nation. Leaving 17 spots left to fill in the upcoming months.
The teams that have qualified so far are:
- Qatar
- Germany
- Denmark
- Brazil
- England
- France
- Belgium
- Croatia
- Spain
- Switzerland
- Netherlands
- Argentina
- Serbia
- South Korea
- Iran
There are only a handful of months before another men's FIFA World Cup. The 2022 World Cup will be the first tournament hosted in the Middle East, being held in Qatar, and the first to be held at the end of the year in November and December.
Stick with Tournamentfootball.co.uk to keep up to date with all the upcoming World Cup 2022 news, including further insight into the Qualifications, Schedule and the draw. As well as all things Fantasy Football for the forthcoming event.