Unsurprisingly, the Bureau of the FIFA Council approved "by unanimous decision" the advancement of a day of the opening match of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and the ceremony that goes with it.

As a result, the match between the host country and Ecuador, originally scheduled for November 21, will take place on November 20 at 7 p.m. local time at Al-Bayt Stadium in Al-Khor, north of Doha, while the meeting between Senegal and the Netherlands, initially scheduled for 1 p.m. local time on Monday, November 21, was postponed to 7 p.m. the same day.

This decision will revive a recent tradition according to which the first match of each World Cup is played by the host country, like Russia-Saudi Arabia during the 2018 edition. It was taken “following an assessment of the sporting implications and operational aspects of this reprogramming, as well as an exhaustive consultation process and agreement with the main stakeholders and the host country, which then resulted in an agreement”, explains FIFA in its press release.

The release date for players does not change

“Ticket holders will be duly informed by email of the new schedule of the matches concerned, for which their tickets remain valid.

In addition, FIFA will endeavor to resolve any issues caused by this change on a case-by-case basis.

The body finally specifies that the period of provision of players will remain unchanged, always starting on November 14, 2022.

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  • Soccer

  • World Cup 2022

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  • Fifa

  • Gianni Infantino

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