FACTS ABOUT THE FIFA WORLD CUP 2022
Football fans are willing to travel the world to support their favorite team in the World Cup. For those who don’t know what the World Cup is, it is an international soccer tournament organized by FIFA every four years, contested by senior men’s national teams from various countries in six different continental zones: Africa, Asia, Europe, North and Central America, and the Caribbean, Oceania, and South America.
A little about the World Cup: the first World Cup was held in 1930 in Uruguay, and Jules Rimet proposed it to create an international competition between men’s football teams. This year, the 2022 World Cup kicked off on November 20 in Qatar. A total of 211 teams have gone through the qualification process, and 32 have passed the qualification process, which will continue their matches in the 2022 World Cup tournament.
After knowing about the World Cup, here we bring the facts about the FIFA World Cup 2022.
- First Middle East and Muslim country host
The previous World Cup was held in an eastern European country, Russia, and it was held in Qatar this year. It is a Middle Eastern and Muslim country that hosts the 2022 World Cup, which is also the smallest host country. Qatar only covers 11,571 km2 with a population of 2.8 million people.
- The most expensive world cup ever
Qatar spent around IDR 3.404 trillion to build seven new stadiums and renovate other stadiums, IDR 557 trillion to build metro systems, airports, hotels, and IDR 15,4 trillion on tournament security. So, they have already spent a thousand trillion rupiah more on accommodation, transportation, and security infrastructure.
- The first World Cup in the winter
During summer, Qatar has extreme weather conditions. Due to that situation, the World Cup is held in November and December because the weather is relatively cooler in November. Also, all eight stadiums in Qatar are fully air-conditioned, with the temperature not exceeding 27 degrees Celsius.
- Shortest World Cup
The opening match of the World Cup 2022 was started on November 20, with the final being held on December 18. So, the World Cup wwas played across 28 days, which makes it the shortest football World Cup. Since 1998, the World Cup has been played the longest across 32 days.
- Last World Cup for Messi and Ronaldo?
Messi and Ronaldo are the greatest players to have played the game. After Argentina won the World Cup, Messi still won’t retire, he said “No, I’m not gonna retire from the national team. I want to keep playing as World Cup champions with the Argentina shirt” to TyC Sports after the match. And Cristiano Ronaldo is yet to comment on his future international football.
Those are facts about the FIFA World Cup 2022, and we hope you all enjoyed the World Cup. Can you guess which country will become the next host country? See you at the next World Cup!
References:
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