Enlarge image
The first game of the Desert World Cup will take place here: the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor
Photo: IMAGO / IMAGO/MIS
The soccer World Cup in Qatar will start on November 20th, one day earlier than previously planned.
As the world association Fifa announced on Thursday evening, hosts Qatar and Ecuador will then play the opening game.
This decision was made after a unanimous decision by the Fifa Council Committee.
The World Cup "starts with an even greater spectacle for domestic and foreign fans," said the World Football Association.
The plans were already leaked on Wednesday.
Previously, the match between Senegal and the Netherlands on 21 November at 13:00 local time was scheduled to be the tournament's first game.
This match is now scheduled to kick off at 7:00 p.m. on November 21st.
Tickets already purchased remain valid
The decision was preceded by "an analysis of the sporting and operational effects as well as extensive consultations and agreements with the most important interest groups and the host country," said the world association.
Qatar is said to have put pressure on Fifa to appear prominently on the World Cup stage - the portal "The Athletic" reported.
Fifa has now sold this as a "change in line with longstanding tradition" - seven years after the World Cup was originally scheduled to start in September 2015, and four and a half months after the group draw.
The host's team has been allowed to open the tournament since 2006, and the defending champion played the opening game from 1974 to 2002 - unlike back then, the world champion is no longer directly qualified.
Tickets already purchased are still valid.
One will “try to solve problems arising from this change on a case-by-case basis”.
The player shutdown period will start unchanged on November 14th.
Germany will start the tournament against Japan on November 23 (4:00 p.m.).
kjo/dpa/sid