By Gasper Crasto/Kuwait
Tickets for the Qatar World Cup ’22 were out on online sale yesterday (23rd Mar ’22) from 1:00 pm Qatar time.
It was a horrible experience for the fans by FIFA standards, the whole process of first-come first-served applying, booking to cart, and paying took more than 3 hours.
Even though I started right from the gunshot, I could not find the lowest category tickets available from Quarters, and by evening, no tickets were available whatsoever from the Round of 16 onwards.
I felt the whole FIFA ticketing system was like scamming fans and rigging ticket sales.
Nevertheless, I was lucky to get through and book a couple of matches at Qatar’s best stadium – Lusail where the final will be played.
SO, WHEN IS THE WORLD CUP
World Cup 2022 starts from November 21.
The final will be played at the Lusail Stadium, Doha a week before Christmas on Sunday December 18.
32 teams will compete in eight groups; draw will be held on 1st April 2022.
WHO HAS QUALIFIED SO FAR?
Qatar (as host nation), Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Spain, England, Holland, Denmark, France, Belgium, Croatia, Serbia, Switzerland.
European Champions Italy, and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal are not yet qualified. Either one of the teams may not qualify.
While Asia has 4 to 5 berths, Africa will have 5.
By the end of March, we will know 29 of the 32 nations.
The final three places will be decided in the intercontinental playoffs in June as well as the final European playoff final which has been delayed due to the Ukraine-Russia crisis.
WORLD CUP STADIUMS
The World cup will be played across 8 stadiums in Qatar, 5 of which are specially built for the event.
The Lusail Iconic Stadium will host the final game of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The stadium is set to be a historic venue for a plethora of reasons, it has a capacity of 80,000 seats.
Like other stadiums planned for the World Cup, the Lusail Stadium will be cooled using solar power.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino says the Qatar 2022 will be the best World Cup ever. For me, it would be the best only if India were to play. Nevertheless, it can still be the best if Portugal qualifies or Brazil wins the final.