Qatar has been planning for the World Cup for 12 years. With the tournament’s first match now just over 100 days away and a complex match schedule announced months in advance, organizers decided to start the event a day early so the host nation could be a hot spot for the opening match. requested a change to ensure
In recent years, World Cup hosts have appeared in the tournament’s first match as headliners for the month-long event’s elaborate opening ceremonies. But this year, the organizers broke with that tradition and took the unusual step of scheduling Qatar’s first match as his third of four matches on November 21, the busy opening day of the tournament.
A proposal to postpone the Qatar match to 20 November is now being sent to the top officials of FIFA, football’s global governing body and host of the World Cup. These officials, a group that includes the leaders of football’s six global federations and FIFA president Gianni Infantino, will decide whether to approve it.
It is unclear why the organizers and FIFA did not initially plan for Qatar to play in the opening match of the tournament since the World Cup was held in Germany in 2006. An honor to open the tournament.
“It has been a long-standing tradition to mark the start of the FIFA World Cup with the Opening Ceremony during the first match featuring either the host country or the defending champions. And from a commercial point of view,” FIFA said. Wrote a letter addressed to members of the Secretariat, reviewed by The New York Times.
In addition to rescheduling Qatar’s opening match against Ecuador, the proposed adjustments would affect another match set for the first day of the tournament: Senegal’s match against the Netherlands, scheduled for the afternoon. It is moved from the time frame to the evening time frame.
Plans for the Qatar World Cup are bumpy. Granting the hosting rights to Qatar ultimately forced FIFA to move the event to winter in the northern hemisphere, because the intense summer temperatures in the Gulf meant that the numbers of players, officials, and the tournament were expected to rise. It was thought to pose a potential health risk to its 100,000 fans.
The switch has upended the football calendar, leading to an unprecedented mid-season hiatus for the European league season and other competitions around the world. Since it was expanded to 32 teams in 1998, negotiations with clubs (furious over weeks of disruption to league schedules and TV contracts) have made the tournament shorter than any other event (28 days) .
“As the tournament draws near, FIFA management is fully aware of the various sporting, operational, commercial and legal implications of this uniquely compressed schedule,” FIFA wrote in a letter.
FIFA has told officials it wants the changes approved by Thursday night European time.
A sudden call to reschedule the opening game only fueled concerns about whether Qatar was ready to host the World Cup. Fans have already complained about the lack of accommodation and lack of clarity about alcohol consumption during the tournament.
International ticket holders planning to attend could face the potential challenge of changing travel plans or rebooking hotel rooms if changes to the season opener are approved. Yes, and players competing in the Europa League sometimes have more than a dozen — one less day of travel and preparation.
The plan has already caused anxiety among ticket holders. FIFA’s switch of Senegal’s match to a later slot means he will not be able to participate in both matches, an hour after the first match ends. The second match will start later.
“I purchased Senegal/Netherlands, especially due to the time difference between matches and following FIFA’s ticketing rules requiring 4 hours between matches (i.e. tickets cannot be purchased for back-to-back matches). This is the scenario that I have to deal with right now,” Bowza said in a message.
World Cup organizers said they consulted with Qatar and the football associations of the two affected teams before proposing changes. The letter suggested that neither national team had contested the change.
Separately, the FIFA Appeals Committee is considering Chile’s appeal to exclude Ecuador from the World Cup, citing accusations that Ecuador defended ineligible players. Some of Ecuador’s players were given only six days to prepare for the tournament, less than any other player attending the World Cup.
“FIFA management will assess the commercial and legal implications of the proposal, including the impact on media rights, sponsorship, contractual commitments across ticket sales and hospitality, and the impact on travel fans, and ensure that the risks are sufficient. due to the value and benefits of the proposal,” FIFA said in a letter.
