Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, but for the sake of the World Cup, we shall be calling it football from now on. It is the sport with the largest following, by far, and its fans are omnipresent. They are supporting their countries offline, on stadiums, or online with various bonus offers sportsbooks nowadays have: people even register with Betway Ghana and place bets on their national team! The only sport that is relatively close is cricket, and due to it being immensely popular in India.
One of the most watched sports events in the world is the FIFA World Cup. This is a quadrennial event which features national teams from all over the world, playing against each other, for the title of world champion. Since it takes place every four years, people anticipate, watch, observe, speculate and do research years in advance.
The 2022 World Cup will be taking place in Qatar. Here is everything that we know about the upcoming World Cup.
Qatar – The Locations and the Climate
Qatar lies in the Middle East, a very hot part of the world, throughout the year. Even in December and January, temperatures can get as high as 25 degrees Celsius, meaning very good conditions, during those months. Summer months go upwards of 50 degrees, which is ridiculously hot.
Seven venues were already selected and existing when the tournament was planned and when Qatar was selected. The eighth venue, the largest of them, called the Lusail Iconic Stadium, is still under construction. Lusail itself is a planned city, located near Doha, the capital city of Qatar. The Lusail venue will have a capacity of 80000 spectators while the next closest will be the Al Bayt Stadium at 60000. With that in mind, this World Cup will be played in November and December, one of the first not to be played in June and May, due to the extreme heat.
COVID Concerns – Global Pandemic
With a global pandemic on our hands, every sports event is under pressure and people are struggling to hold the events. Some events are canceled and most athletes that need to travel opt out of tournaments so that they are not held in quarantine bubbles for the remainder of a tournament.
The 2022 World Cup should have everything under control. The Qatar government added an extra billion dollars to the budget for workers who are working in quarantine, as well as for those that need treatment.
Everything should work well, particularly because only vaccinated spectators will be allowed on the stands. This might alienate some viewers, but it is for the best, for both the athletes, spectators and everyone involved who will be at the venues.
Qualifications – Who is There?
With every World Cup, people always follow closely to see whether their national team will qualify. Even after the first couple of matches, it is already known that some teams will be out of the tournament. So far, only the Qatar national team is officially qualified, but if you take a look at the groups, some teams will most likely be qualified, like the ones currently at the top of their groups. Teams like Brazil, Portugal, Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, England and the like, are already expected to be at the 2022 World Cup without any upsets.