This is the calendar of the Qatar 2022 World Cup

The participating countries have already set their path to the title at the World Cup in Qatar, which will be held from November 21 to December 18.

Of the previous world champions, only Italy will be missing, eliminated in the playoffs by North Macedonia.

Of the favourites, the one with the worst luck has been Brazil, who will face Serbia, Switzerland and Cameroon in the first phase.

There are still three places to be defined, which will be occupied by the winners of the playoffs that remain to be played.

One participant will come out of the tie between Peru and the winner of the United Arab Emirates-Australia;

another, of the confrontation between Costa Rica and New Zealand;

and the third will be a European team, which will come out of the match between Wales and the champion of the tie between Scotland and Ukraine in June.

The Spanish team, which entered the draw in Pot 1, thus avoiding some of the favourites, will find themselves in the group stage with Germany, Japan and the winner of Costa Rica-New Zealand.

Their first match will be against Costa Rica or New Zealand on November 23;

on November 27 it will be Germany's turn;

and will close the group stage on December 1 against Japan.

Luis Enrique's players come to the meeting after having won six of the eight games in their qualifying group, where the threat of falling in the playoffs was present until the last day.

There they won with a goal from Morata against Sweden (1-0), which finished second.

Despite the difficulties, there is a certain atmosphere of optimism after the good performance in the last European Championship, in which Spain reached the semifinals, where it was eliminated by Italy,

France, the last champion, will play against Peru or Australia, Denmark and Tunisia.

The team led by Didier Deschamps has the challenge of improving the role of the last three winners of the tournament, Germany, Spain and Italy, who were eliminated in the group stage of the next World Cup.

The focus will also be on Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Both, who will be present except for injury, will enter the group of footballers who have been to five World Cups, something that has only been achieved by Lothar Matthäus (Germany), Rafa Márquez (Mexico), Antonio Carbajal (Mexico) and Gianluigi Buffon (Italy).

In this table you can consult all the matches of the first phase of the tournament.

the final phase

The top 16 teams from the first phase will qualify for the knockout rounds.

In the round of 16, the first two of each group will face each other between December 3 and 6.

On December 18 at four in the afternoon, peninsular time in Spain, the best two will play the final.

A controversial venue

This World Cup has been involved in controversy, from the choice of the venue, through the problems in the construction of the stadiums and the doubts about respect for human rights, especially those of LGBT people and women.

In addition, it is the first World Cup to be played in the Middle East and in the fall due to the weather conditions in the region.

This fact will modify the calendar of the main European leagues, which will stop during the celebration of the tournament.

Six cities will host the matches.

The eight stadiums will be in them, all practically new and concentrated in just 370 square kilometers, figures much lower than the previous World Cup in Russia in 2018. The opening match will be played between Qatar and Ecuador at the Al Bayt de Jor stadium while the final It will be at the Lusail National Stadium, which seats more than 94,000 spectators.

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