FIFA has decided that the first match of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will take place a day earlier.

Therefore, the match between the host team and Ecuador, originally scheduled for November 21, will be played on November 20 at 19:00 local time at the Al Bait Stadium in Al Khor, north of Doha, while the match between Senegal and the Netherlands, originally scheduled on Monday, November 21 at 1:00 p.m. local time, rescheduled to 7:00 p.m. the same day.

At the same time, FIFA said that the player provision period for national teams will remain unchanged and will also begin on November 14, 2022.

FIFA has decided that the opening match of the World Cup in Qatar will take place a day earlier

“The ceremony and the opening match of the competition at the Al-Bayt Stadium were postponed one day by the unanimous decision of the Council Office” – FIFA.

The decision will see the recent tradition of the home team playing the first match of each World Cup, as was the case with Russia and Saudi Arabia in the 2018 edition.

“Ticket holders will be informed by post of the new schedule of target matches for which their tickets remain valid. In addition, FIFA will make every effort to resolve any issues caused by the change on a case-by-case basis.” – FIFA.

The opening match is scheduled to take place at the 60,000-capacity Al Bait Stadium, one of seven recently built specifically for the tournament since Qatar won the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The change in the date of the kick-off involves a change in the 100-day countdown to the World Cup, which was due to start on Saturday, with events organized across the emirate.

The final tournament in Qatar will take place from November 20 to December 18, reports Agerpres.​