Let’s Look back at the Brief History of FIFA before we see about the present
FIFA word stands for Fédération Internationale de Football Association in French; or International Federation of Association Football in English. This organization was founded on May 21, 1904 in Paris, France, and currently has 211 members. The goal for FIFA establishment was to establish a sports governance that would oversee international competition between the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Its headquarters are in Zürich, Switzerland and its president is Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino. It now has 211 national associations as members. These national associations must also be members of one of the world’s six regional confederations: Africa, Asia, Europe, North and Central America and the Caribbean, Oceania, and South America.
FIFA established the World Cup in 1930 and invited every country to compete, but only 13 did travel to Uruguay. The World Cup, now is the world’s largest sporting event, with broadcasts in over 200 countries and billions of viewers worldwide. The event is quadrennial, which means it happens every four years, and it involves a total of 32 teams.
FIFA Word Cup in Qatar is unique from previous World Cup due to multiple of reasons–
First Winter World Cup
World Cup usually takes places in Mid-year, but during mid-year days Qatar temperatures would rise to 50 deg, making it for Hosting. So, event is moved to November.
The Most Expensive
Qatar is spending a lump sum mount of $200 billion on infrastructure projects, which includes highways, hotels, the construction of stadiums etc. Thus, making the upcoming event one of the most expensive World Cups in the history of the game.
Fewer Stadiums
Only 8 stadiums have been selected for Qatar event which is lowest in venues compared to other world cups after Argentina.
Visitors breaking records
By the end of the games, it is expected that the number of visitors will be record breaking. As Qatar is one of the developing countries in the Middle East, Qatar’s favorable geographic location makes it reachable to most nations.
Less travel
Since Host cities like Doha, Lusail, Al Wakrah, and Al Rayyan are located in close vicinity to each other. Hence, moving from one venue to other becomes easy.
Stadium Air Conditioned
First time ever, we will see country is set to host the FIFA World Cup in fully air-conditioned stadiums. Yes, you heard it right, all eight venues in Qatar will be fully air-conditioned, providing a comfortable viewing experience to fans and players.
Never Qualified
Qatar national football team has not yet been qualified for any single FIFA World Cup since their country’s independence at 1971. While it was a regular participant in the continental AFC Asian Cup. (alike Italy)
Some Recent News
As part of sweeping reporting restrictions that could have a “severe chilling effect” on media coverage, international television crews in Qatar for the FIFA World Cup may be prohibited from interviewing people in their own homes.
Under the terms of filming permits issued by the Qatari government, broadcasters such as the BBC and ITV will effectively be barred from filming at accommodation sites such as those housing migrant workers. Spokesperson says, this rule is same as previous world Cup Games.
Filming at government buildings, universities, places of worship, and hospitals is also prohibited, as is filming at residential properties and private businesses, according to the terms.
Saad Al-Suwaidi, head of the Hayya pass service, said that “between 1.5 million and 1.7 million people have so far applied for the card, that acts as a visa, match ticket, transport ticket and gives access to some fan zones”. Organizers says, more than 3000 buses have been brought up for this event, 1000 were already present and 700 will be battery powered buses, for fans mobility to witness the game. It is hosted in across five cities in Qatar: Lusail, Al Khor, Al Rayyan, Al Wakrah and Doha.
The Hayya Card required to enter Qatar $27, (2200 RS) while world Cup is ongoing between 1st November 2022 to 23rd January, 2023. Allowing multiple of entries for 90 Days. And one who has valid tickets for match can travel in Qatar using public transports for free on match days.
On 28 February 2022, due to the 2022 Russian invasion to Ukraine and as per recommendations from International Olympic Committee (IOC), FIFA suspended the participation of Russia.
Now without any delay let’s look at the dates of FIFA World Cup stages
Group Stage: November 20 – December 2
Round Of 16: December 3 – December 6
Quarter Finals: December 9 – December 10
Semi-Finals: December 13 – December 14
Third Place Playoffs: December 17
Final: December 18
There are A-H Groups of Match schedule. Then FIFA World Cup 22 Round Of 16, Quarter Final, then Semi Finals, Third Place Pay off, then finally FIFA World Cup final on 18Th December, 2022.
What do you think? Will Lionel Messi finally lift his most desired trophy? Or will Ronaldo retire after getting his team being World Cup winner? Or could it be the likes of France being crowned World Champions back-to-back? Or any other team is in your mind or wish to be a winner for FIFA, 2022.
Teams in FIFA, 2022
It is predetermined how many nations qualified from each region: –
Europe (UEFA): 13
Africa (CAF): 5
Asia (AFC): 4 (plus 1 playoff qualifier)
South America (CONMEBOL): 4 (plus 1 playoff qualifier)
North/Central America & Caribbean (CONCACAF): 3 (plus 1 playoff qualifier)
Oceania (OFC): 1 playoff qualifier
| Nation | Region | No. of Titles | Last Year |
| Germany | Europe | 4 | 2014 |
| Brazil | South America | 5 | 2002 |
| Argentina | South America | 2 | 1986 |
| Uruguay | South America | 2 | 1950 |
| France | Europe | 2 | 2018 |
| Spain | Europe | 1 | 2010 |
| England | Europe | 1 | 1966 |
Hope you liked reading this post. Please do comment your thoughts about this post.
-by Sweta Shashi