2022 Qatar World Cup group stages to have four matches a day

Four matches will be played each day during the group stage of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, FIFA has announced.

The group games will be played over a 12-day period, with matches not being assigned to particular venues until after the finals draw in March 2022 in order to choose optimal kick-off times to suit television audiences in different countries as well as supporters out in Qatar.

Kick-off times for the first two rounds of matches will be 1pm,4pm,7pmand10pmlocal time,andwiththestadiumsall withina40-mileradiusofeach other it will enable supporters and media to realistically attend two games on the same day. For all but three games there will be a three-day rest period in between. There will also be no need for teams, supportersormediatospendtime flyingortakinglongrailorroad journeys between matches.

Kick-off times in the final round of group games and knock-out round matches will beat6pmand10pmlocaltime.

The tournament’s opening match will be played at the Al Bayt stadium in Al Khor on Monday, November 21 in a match which will feature the host country.

The 2022 final venue is the Lusail Stadium in Doha, with the showpiece game to be played on Sunday, December 18.Astartdatehasnotyetbeen fixed for the European section of World Cup qualification. Theannouncementcomestwo years to the day since the 2018 World Cup final.

Meanwhile, a report to the UN Security Council has highlighted the continued existence of “structural racial discrimination against nonnationals”inthecountry’sconstruction sector.

Around two million migrant workers are involved in helping to build World Cup venuesandothertournamentrelated infrastructure.

The local organisers, the SupremeCommitteeforDeliveryandLegacy,employaround four per cent of construction workers in the country and were commended by the report’s author on the measures and safeguards they had implemented in relation to timely and reliable payments and living conditions.

However, workers’ representatives still called for there to be non-discriminatory minimum wage protections and more liberal immigration rules. The Supreme Committeewerepraisedfortheirwork onsafety,buttheremaining96 per cent of the construction industry was deemed to have failed to reach the required standard.