Chinanews.com, Beijing, November 20th. At 22:40 Beijing time on the 20th, the eyes of the world are focused on the green fields of the Qatar Peninsula on the southwest coast of the Persian Gulf.

After 4 years of waiting, the opening ceremony of the World Cup in Qatar was unveiled.

As the countdown counted down to zero, the ceremony kicked off, and the football feast known as "the most expensive World Cup" finally met with the world.

Benchmarking the Olympic Games on the scene

　　Marco Balich, the creative director of the Qatar World Cup opening ceremony, revealed in an interview a few days ago that famous actors and artists will participate in the opening ceremony.

Marko Balić has participated in the opening and closing ceremonies of several Olympic Games and has rich creative experience.

For the Qatar World Cup opening ceremony, he has been preparing for a year.

On November 16, 2022 local time, Doha, Qatar, the 3-day countdown to the 2022 Qatar World Cup, fans visited the night scene of Doha to commemorate.

Image source: Visual China

　　Although Marko Balic did not disclose the specific content of the opening ceremony, he said that he would match the Olympic Games from the scene, "emphasizing that this is an event that has created many firsts: the first time it is held in an Arab country, and there are Eight stadiums surround a city."

　　By convention, the opening ceremony of the World Cup is usually controlled to about 30 minutes, and this time is no exception.

　　Qatar won the right to host the 2022 World Cup 12 years ago.

This is the first time that the World Cup will be held in the Gulf region and the first time that games will be played in the northern hemisphere winter.

So many firsts, what kind of surprises will they turn into?

　　All of this will be displayed first in the opening ceremony.

Perhaps the opening ceremony of the World Cup in Qatar will become another classic in the memory of fans.

Pedestrians walk past a poster of Raib, the Qatar World Cup mascot.

A special World Cup

　　Before the opening ceremony was unveiled, the outside world had high expectations for it.

Indeed, when the football event returns to the Asian continent after 20 years, the special significance is self-evident.

　　Many people say that this is the last World Cup for 35-year-old Messi and 37-year-old Ronaldo.

In the past ten years, the two have been hailed as the "peerless twins" in world football.

This time in Qatar on the southwestern coast of the Persian Gulf, the two "Heavenly Proud Sons" gathered again, and both ushered in their fifth World Cup trip.

The Qatar World Cup will kick off in the early morning of the 21st Beijing time.

The picture shows the night view of the 974 Stadium in Doha, Qatar.

As the first stadium in the history of the World Cup that can be completely disassembled, it is assembled from 974 containers, and 974 is the international dialing code for Qatar.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Cui Nan

　　In this competition, 6 Asian teams will compete, which is unprecedented in the history of the World Cup.

Among them, Qatar is the host. Four teams from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and South Korea directly advanced through the world preliminaries, and the Australian team entered the finals by virtue of the intercontinental play-offs.

Asia will become the continent with the second-largest number of participating teams in this year's World Cup, after Europe, which has 13 teams.

　　The complete competition cycle of the Qatar World Cup is 28 days, and the arrangement of "four matches a day" in the group stage makes the schedule very compact.

In addition, in 2026, the U.S., Canada and Mexico World Cup will expand to 48 teams.

Therefore, the Qatar World Cup will be the last football event with 32 teams participating.

The giant "football" on the square of Qatar World Cup Fans Festival.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Tomita

　　In the early morning of the 21st, Beijing time, the opening match of the World Cup in Qatar will start, and the host team Qatar will face the Ecuador team.

In the past World Cup finals, the hosts had a record of 16 wins and 6 draws in the first match, and they were undefeated.

This time, will Qatar enjoy the "host law" bonus?

　　As night fell, the Doha Bay Stadium was bustling.

When football has once again become the focus of attention of the world's sports fans, in the next month or so, this football feast will become the topic of conversation after dinner.

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