THE FIFA WORLD CUP 2022
THE WORLD CUP 2022
The 2022 FIFA WORLD CUP in Qatar kicks off on Sunday, November 20 with an opening ceremony and the inaugural match between Qatar and Ecuador. It will wrap up less than a month later with the final set to be played on Sunday, December 18.
It will follow along the lines of recent editions, with a 32-team group stage to whittle the field down to 16 teams — only the top two teams from each of the eight groups survive.
Those 16 group-stage teams will advance to the single-game knockout stages — Round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, final — where the winner moves on and the loser goes home. There must be a winner on the day for every knockout-round match, and extra time and penalty kicks will be used, if necessary, to determine the victor.
- Group stage: Nov. 20-Dec. 2
- Round of 16: Dec. 3-6
- Quarterfinals: Dec. 9-10
- Semifinals: Dec. 13-14
- Third-place match: Dec. 17
- Final: Dec. 18
IFFHS will publish each day the statistics, the new records and the technical details of all matches.