Guwahati: The FIFA World Cup 2022, the biggest football tournament in history, will kick off today with 32 nations competing for the title. Hosts Qatar will play Ecuador in the first game after the opening ceremony on Sunday.
According to reports, the opening ceremony was supposed to take place prior to Qatar’s first game on Monday, but that game was moved up a day instead.
The 60,000-seat Al Bayt Stadium, which is located 40 kilometres north of Doha, will host the opening ceremony.
The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has not yet announced a complete list of artists for the opening ceremony, but South Korean boy band BTS has confirmed that member Jungkook will sing a song from their album Dreamers during the event.
When does the Opening Ceremony Start?
The Opening Ceremony is set to begin from 7.30 pm IST, after which the first match will be played.
Where to watch the FIFA World Cup 2022?
The FIFA World Cup 2022 will be broadcast on Sports18 and Sports18 HD TV in English, with them winning the official broadcasting rights of the tournament.
The 2022 event has faced a lot of criticism due to Qatar’s stringent and regressive rules since FIFA gave the Middle Eastern nation the organising rights ten years ago.
It should be noted that Qatar had to build everything from stadiums to supporting facilities from scratch because it lacked the infrastructure needed to hold a huge event like this. The majority of the migrant workers were from Southeast Asian nations like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal.
Global human rights organisations have drawn attention to the appalling conditions in which they were made to labour and the alarmingly high number of deaths during the construction, which they estimate to be in the thousands.
Moreover, President Gianni Infantino of FIFA has come under fire for his subsequent comments, which have been viewed as blatantly arrogant and dismissive of the current issues, as well as for the organization’s choice to award Qatar the rights to host this year’s world cup.