Qatar 2022 World Cup: change in opening match announced

A few hours after the draw for the Qatar 2022 World Cup ended, a last-minute change in the opening match was announced, even though the schedules had already been arranged.

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Thus, the soccer world will have to adjust to this change, which comes to break a tradition that was cemented since the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

What is the change in the opening match that was announced today?

Just a few hours after the World Cup draw was made, it was announced that the host of the tournament, Qatar, will not play the opening match, thus breaking a tradition that had been respected in previous tournaments.

The great novelty will be that Senegal and the Netherlands will play the first match of the tournament, thus leaving behind the tradition of the host country being the first to play a match in its World Cup.

The opening match was originally going to be the host country versus Ecuador, but FIFA later published a schedule with a change in the kick-off time of the matches.

So far, not much information has been released as to the reason for the change in match times, as before this last-minute announcement, the Qatar vs Ecuador game was scheduled to take place at 05:00 ET. 

However, that time slot will now be occupied by Senegal vs Netherlands match, which will be played at the Al Thumama stadium. The other matches to be played that day are listed below:

Senegal vs Netherlands, Group A, 05:00 ET.

England vs Iran, Group B, 08:00 ET

Qatar vs Ecuador, Group A, 11:00 ET

United States vs Wales/Scotland/Ukraine, Group B, 14:00 ET

The probable reason for the change in Qatar's game

According to information circulating in the international media, the time change for Qatar vs. Ecuador match occurred because FIFA wants this game to have a good rating.

If the game had been played at its original time, the audience would have been very low. 

This is because, in the region where the World Cup will be played, soccer is not a sport that attracts as many people as it does in the American continent or Europe.

And we must take into account the time difference between countries since the first game of the World Cup will take place at 05:00 ET, so it would have been very difficult for the audience to get up early to watch Qatar vs Ecuador.

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