Opening game change will see 2022 FIFA World Cup start a day early

The opening match and ceremony of this year’s FIFA World Cup will now start one day earlier than planned with the international football governing body advising overnight of a revised schedule that will allow host nation Qatar to open the national team football tournament.

The match schedule for this year’s tournament had been finalised when the group stage draw was made in the Qatari capital of Doha in April this year, with the nation’s Al Thumama Stadium set to stage the opening game, with the Netherlands meeting Senegal at 1pm local time on 21st November.

Three further games had been scheduled for the opening day, including England v Iran (Khalifa International Stadium, 4pm), Qatar v Ecuador (Al Bayt Stadium, 7pm) and USA v Wales (Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, 10pm).

However, following the schedule change, the tournament will now kick off on Sunday 20th November when the hosts take on Ecuador.

Advising that “the decision followed an assessment of the competition and operational implications, as well as a thorough consultation process and an agreement with key stakeholders and the host country”, FIFA noted that the “change ensures the continuity of a long-standing tradition of marking the start of the FIFA World Cup with an opening ceremony on the occasion of the first match featuring either the hosts or the defending champions.

The decision followed an assessment of the competition and operational implications, as well as a thorough consultation process and an agreement with key stakeholders and the host country.”

With Qatar v Ecuador unlikely to include many players based at European clubs, the change of schedule is unlikely impact player release periods in the major European football leagues.

FIFA went on to advise that “ticket holders will be duly notified by email that the relevant matches have been rescheduled and their tickets will remain valid irrespective of the new date/time.”

Commenting on the change, Australasian Leisure Management Publisher, Nigel Benton stated "given the disruption this is likely to cause to fans' arrangements in particular, it is strange that this change is being made 100 or so days away from the start of the tournament.

"FIFA and the local organisers have had 12 years to plan this and if the aim was to have Qatar playing in the opening game it could, at the very least, have been scheduled when the tournament draw was made in April." 

Image: Qatar’s Al Bayt Stadium. Credit: Qatar 2022.