China News Service, Beijing, August 12. According to the official news of the Qatar World Cup, the opening match of the FIFA 2022 Qatar World Cup will be advanced to 0:00 am Beijing time on November 21. The two sides will be host Qatar and Ecuador.
In order to escape the sweltering heat in the Gulf region, the current Qatar World Cup was originally scheduled to be held from November 21 to December 18.
According to the previous schedule, the first round match between the Netherlands and Senegal in Group A at 6 pm Beijing time on November 21st will be the first match of this World Cup.
However, FIFA said that in order to continue the World Cup tradition of "the host or the defending champion play the opener", the game time between the Netherlands and Senegal will be adjusted from the original scheduled time of 18:00 on November 21st, Beijing time to 0:00 on November 22nd, Beijing time. .
The match between the hosts Qatar and Ecuador will be the opener of the new schedule.
FIFA also decided that the opening ceremony of the Qatar World Cup was also moved forward a day, before the match between Qatar and Ecuador, at the Albat Stadium, the venue for the match.
It is customary in the World Cup for the host or defending champion to play the opener.
From the 2006 World Cup in Germany to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the host has been the "protagonist" of the opening game for four consecutive World Cups.