16 Days Towards The 2022 World Cup: It's Kick-off Hour Opening Match

JAKARTA - The 2022 World Cup is less than two weeks away. Held in Qatar, this will be the most unusual World Cup for a number of reasons.

The main reason why this is a strange tournament is the fact that the World Cup will occur in winter for most of the world.

There is also controversy surrounding the provision of this tournament to the Gulf state, the treatment of migrant workers who build stadiums and infrastructure, and the law on homosexuality in the country.

Despite all that, 32 teams will participate in the tournament and the opening matches will bring Qatar together with Ecuador on November 20 at 17:00 CET (16:00 GMT) or 23.00 WIB at the Al Bayt stadium.

After the draw is announced, the 2022 World Cup is scheduled to start on November 21. Initially, the Netherlands vs Senegal and England vs Iran will play first. Not the host Qatar.

In order not to break the tradition that has started since 2006 where the host country opened the tournament, it was agreed that Qatar and Ecuador would play on November 20. As a result, this tradition continues.

The Netherlands and Senegal are two other teams in this group with Qatar and Ecuador.

Regarding the preparation of participating countries, the leagues in Europe will take a gap in competition around November 13. But in Mexico, the League MX has closed early and their focus has shifted to Qatar.

The United States and Japan have also done the same.