All You Need to Know About The World Cup in Qatar
Written by Prarthana Sheopuri. Managing Editor, I Kid You Not.
Do you know about the transportable stadium in Qatar?
Written by Prarthana Sheopuri. Managing Editor, I Kid You Not.
The World Cup is all set to start in Qatar soon. It’s going to be quite an event with sporting legends like Ronaldo, Messi, Mbappe, Pogba, Neymar, and Kane will be playing, enthralling the spectators!
Here’s all you need to know about the World Cup!
First, What’s the World Cup?
The World Cup in football is a tournament that is organized by FIFA – which is the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, an international, Paris-based governing body of football (also of beach football and another indoor game called Futsal).
The World Cup is one of the biggest sporting events in the world and is held once in 4 years.
Where is the World Cup happening this year?
It’s taking place in Qatar – which is an Arab country. Its capital is Doha.
The event kicks off on Nov 20 in Qatar, five months later than usual. It will be played from November 20 to December 18.
Why is the World Cup being held in November?
The intense summer temperatures in Qatar have led to the delay in the hosting of the World Cup.
How many countries are participating in the 2022 World Cup?
The 2022 World Cup has 32 nations competing for the win. The competition will have 48 countries in 2026, with Canada, Mexico, and The US as the host.
Who are the favourites to win?
Defending champion, France along with Brazil, England, and Argentina are the hot favourites to lift the title. Spain, Germany, Netherlands, and Portugal follow close.
Here are the current FIFA world rankings
MEN
| RK | Team | Total Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | 1841.30 |
| 2 | Belgium | 1816.71 |
| 3 | Argentina | 1773.88 |
| 4 | France | 1759.78 |
| 5 | England | 1728.47 |
| 6 | Italy | 1726.14 |
| 7 | Spain | 1715.22 |
| 8 | Netherlands | 1694.51 |
| 9 | Portugal | 1676.56 |
| 10 | Denmark | 1666.57 |
WOMEN
| RK | Team | Total Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | USA | 2087.48 |
| 2 | Sweden | 2066.30 |
| 3 | Germany | 2064.75 |
| 4 | England | 2051.61 |
| 5 | France | 2023.09 |
| 6 | Spain | 1997.74 |
| 7 | Canada | 1997.31 |
| 8 | Netherlands | 1994.69 |
| 9 | Brazil | 1989.98 |
| 10 | Korea DPR | 1940.00 |
About the official World Cup ball
The official match ball of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 has been made by Adidas and it’s called – Al Rihla
What’s so special about this ball?
Al Rihala is made with, what’s called, connected ball technology. It will use Artificial Intelligence to process data and information to help the match officials make more accurate decisions.
“Al Rihla means “the journey” in Arabic.
The official mascot for the world cup
The Official Mascot for the FIFA World Cup 2022 is called La’eeb – it means super-skilled player in Arabic. FIFA encourages everyone to interpret what it looks like!
The World Cup Trophy
By Revol Web – via Wikimedia Commons
The World Cup trophy is what all the teams will be fighting for.
It’s a gold trophy that the winner of the FIFA World Cup will take home! Before this one, another trophy was used, called the Jules Rimet Trophy, from 1930 to 1970. This one, called the FIFA World Cup Trophy, is one of the most expensive trophies ever used in sports – it’s said to be valued at $20 million!
Let’s know some more about the game itself
- A game consists of two 45-minute halves, injury and penalty time is additional.
- If two teams are tied, they will play an extra two 15 -minute periods, if they remain level after that as well then the winner is decided by penalty kicks.
- Each team has 11 players ( this includes the goalkeeper )
- Football is considered the world’s most popular sport as it has an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries. In 2010 a combined television audience of more than 26 billion watched the World Cup finals.
- The men’s World Cup is the most-viewed sporting event in the world, even more than Olympics.
Here’s what’s interesting about the World Cup being held in Qatar
- Qatar is an unusual venue due to its high temperature, which led to some controversy over its selection.
- It is the first-ever winter edition of the game
The special stadium for the World Cup
The world cup will be played in 8 stadiums.
One of them is called Stadium 974. Here’s what’s special about it:
It’s been almost entirely constructed using steel shipping containers
It can be dismantled and moved! So after the world cup, this can be transported to another country
The name 974 comes from the international dialling code of Qatar, along with the number of containers used to construct it.
It can seat 40,000 people
- The country is spending close to $200billion on sprucing the infrastructure which includes stadiums, highways, hotels etc. This will make it one of the costliest World Cups in the history of the game.
- All eight venues in the country will be air-conditioned, making it comfortable for spectators as well as players.
- Qatar will be the first Middle Eastern nation and the second Asian host after Japan and South Korea hosted the games in 2002.
- A few major musicians like Shakira, Dua Lipa and Rod Stewart have declined to perform for the world cup due to Qatar’s bad human rights record (this includes denying women the right to make key decisions about their lives)
Headline Image: Fifa.com
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