Enlarge image
The official tournament ball (»Al-Rihla«) next to the World Cup trophy
Photo: KARIM JAAFAR / AFP
It is the most important football tournament in the world – and will be held in late autumn for the first time this year: from November 20, 32 national teams will be playing for the World Cup title in Qatar.
The Gulf State is hosting a World Cup for the first time.
The final will take place on December 18th in front of more than 80,000 spectators in the Lusail Stadium.
France is going into the tournament as the defending champions, while the reigning European champions, Italy, surprisingly missed out on qualifying.
Germany is one of the extended favorites and will meet Spain, among others, in the group phase.
groups
Group A:
Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands
Group B:
England, Iran, USA, Wales
Group C:
Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland
Group D:
France, Denmark, Tunisia, Australia
Group E:
Spain,
Germany
, Japan, Costa Rica
Group F:
Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia
Group G:
Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon
Group H:
Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea
game schedule
Games of the German national team:
November 23, 2 p.m.:
Germany
– Japan (ARD)
November 27, 8 p.m.:
Germany
– Spain (ZDF)
December 1, 8 p.m.:
Germany
– Costa Rica (ARD)
Group A
November 20, 5 p.m.: Qatar – Ecuador (
opening game
)
November 21, 5 p.m.: Senegal – Netherlands
November 25, 2 p.m.: Qatar – Senegal
November 25, 5 p.m.: Netherlands – Ecuador
November 29, 4 p.m.: Netherlands v Qatar
November 29, 4 p.m.: Ecuador v Senegal
Group B
November 21, 2pm: England v Iran
November 21, 8pm: USA v Wales
November 25, 11am: Wales v Iran
November 25, 8pm: England v USA
November 29, 8pm: Wales v England
November 29, 8 p.m.: Iran-US
Group C
November 22, 11 a.m.: Argentina – Saudi Arabia
November 22, 5 p.m.: Mexico – Poland
November 26, 2 p.m.: Poland – Saudi Arabia
November 26, 8 p.m.: Argentina – Mexico
November 30, 8 p.m : Poland-Argentina
November 30, 8 p.m.: Saudi Arabia-Mexico
Group D
November 22, 2 p.m.: Denmark – Tunisia
November 22, 8 p.m.: France – Australia
November 26, 11 a.m.: Tunisia – Australia
November 26, 5 p.m.: France – Denmark
November 30, 4 p.m.: Tunisia – France
November 30, 4 p.m.: Australia v Denmark
Group E
November 23, 2 p.m.:
Germany
– Japan
November 23, 5 p.m.: Spain – Costa Rica
November 27, 11 a.m.: Japan – Costa Rica
November 27, 8 p.m.: Spain –
Germany
December 1, 8 p.m.: Japan – Spain
December 1, 8 p.m.: Costa Rica –
Germany
Group F
November 23, 11 a.m.: Morocco - Croatia
November 23, 8 p.m.: Belgium - Canada
November 27, 2 p.m.: Belgium - Morocco
November 27, 5 p.m.: Croatia - Canada
December 1, 4 p.m.: Croatia - Belgium
December 1, 4 p.m.: Canada-Morocco
Group G
November 24, 11 a.m.: Switzerland – Cameroon
November 24, 8 p.m.: Brazil – Serbia
November 28, 11 a.m.: Cameroon – Serbia
November 28, 5 p.m.: Brazil – Switzerland
December 2, 8 p.m.: Cameroon – Brazil
December 2, 8 p.m.: Serbia – Switzerland
Group H
November 24, 2pm: Uruguay-South Korea
November 24, 5pm: Portugal-Ghana
November 28, 2pm: South Korea-Ghana
November 28, 8pm: Portugal-Uruguay
December 2, 4pm: South Korea-Portugal
December 2, 4 p.m.: Ghana-Uruguay
round of 16
December 3, 4 p.m.: Group A winner – Group B runner-up
December 3, 8 p.m.: Group C winner – Group D runner-up
December 4, 4 p.m.: Group D winner – Group C runner-up
December 4, 8 p.m.: Winner Group B – runner-up Group A
5 December 4pm: Winner Group E – runner-up Group F
5 December 8pm: Winner Group G – runner-up Group H
6 December 4pm: Winner Group F – runner-up Group E
6. December, 8 p.m.: Winner Group H – Second Group G
Quarterfinals
December 9, 4 p.m.: Winner of round of 16 5 – winner of round of 16 6
December 9, 8 p.m.: Winner of round of 16 1 – winner of round of 16 2
December 10, 4 p.m.: Winner of round of 16 7 – winner of round of 16 8
December 10, 8 p.m.: Winner Round of 16 3 – Winner of Round of 16 4
semifinals
December 13, 8 p.m.: Winner Quarterfinal 1 – Winner Quarterfinal 2
December 14, 8 p.m.: Winner Quarterfinal 3 – Winner Quarterfinal 4
3rd place match
December 17, 4 p.m.: Loser Semi-Final 1 – Loser Semi-Final 2
final
December 18, 4 p.m.: Winner Semifinal 1 – Winner Semifinal 2
Venues
The matches will be played in eight different stadiums.
The largest, the
Lusail Stadium
(80,000 spectators), will host quarterfinals, semifinals and the final on December 18th.
The
al-Bayt Stadium
is the second largest in the country with a capacity of 60,000 spectators and will host the opening game.
The other stages:
Ahmed bin Ali Stadium (40,000)
Education City Stadium (40,000)
Khalifa International Stadium (40,000)
al-Janoub Stadium (40,000)
Stadium 974 (40,000)
al-Thumama Stadium (40,000)
The soccer World Cup on TV
As usual, the World Cup will be broadcast on a large scale on public broadcasters.
ARD and ZDF share 48 of 64 games.
However, as with the European Championships last year, Magenta TV also secured rights.
The Telekom broadcaster shows 16 games exclusively.
However, the encounters of the DFB-Elf are guaranteed to be on free TV (you can find all information about the broadcast of the German national team here).
The DFB squad
Goalkeepers:
Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Marc-André ter Stegen (FC Barcelona), Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Defence:
Armel Bella Kotchap (FC Southampton), Matthias Ginter (SC Freiburg), Christian Günter (SC Freiburg), Thilo Kehrer (West Ham United), Lukas Klostermann (RB Leipzig), David Raum (RB Leipzig), Antonio Rüdiger (Real Madrid), Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Niklas Sule (Borussia Dortmund)
Midfield/Attack:
Karim-David Adeyemi (Borussia Dortmund), Julian Brandt (Borussia Dortmund), Niclas Füllkrug (Werder Bremen), Serge Gnabry (FC Bayern Munich), Leon Goretzka (FC Bayern Munich), Mario Götze (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ilkay Gündoğan (Manchester City), Kai Havertz (Chelsea FC), Jonas Hofmann (Bor. Mönchengladbach), Joshua Kimmich (FC Bayern Munich), Youssoufa Moukoko (Borussia Dortmund), Thomas Müller (FC Bayern Munich), Jamal Musiala (FC Bayern Munich), Leroy Sané (Bayern Munich)
A detailed analysis of the German squad can be found here.
All soccer world champions
1930 Uruguay
1934 Italy
1938 Italy
1950 Uruguay
1954
Germany (3-2 v Hungary)
1958 Brazil
1962 Brazil
1966 England
1970 Brazil
1974
Germany (2-1 v Netherlands)
1978 Argentina
1982: Italy
1986: Argentina
1990:
Germany (1-0 v Argentina)
1994: Brazil
1998: France
2002: Brazil
2006: Italy
2010: Spain
2014:
Germany (1-0 v Argentina)
2018: France
2022:
bam