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Qatar 2022


bairney

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FIFA have announced Qatar World Cup is happening 21st November to 18th December 2022. How the hell is that going to work? What a balls-up from the money-grabbing corrupt mob. 

Edited by bairney
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First thing to note is that it's being played over 28 days which is several days shorter than usual, the final is on a Sunday as usual but it starts on the Monday when it would usually start 3 or 4 days earlier with on Thursday/Friday, this probably means a slightly more congested schedule in the group stage. I reckon 4 games per day will be the norm in the group stage

 

Mon 21 Nov: The usual standalone Qatar game to open the tournament

Tue 22 Nov: The other two teams in group A play, as well as all four in group B

Then four games per day for the next 11 days would mean the group stage finishes on Saturday 4th December, then the knockouts could go:

Mon 5-Thu 8 Dec: Last 16

Sat 10/Sun 11 Dec: Quarters

Tue 13/Wed 14 Dec: Semis

Sat 17 Dec: 3rd place playoff

Sun 18 Dec: Final

 

With Qatar being 3 hours ahead of us, you're probably looking at kickoff times of 9:30am, midday, 2:30pm and 5pm in the group stages and then probably 2:30pm and 5pm for the final group matches and knockouts. It's going to be shite no doubt.

 

In terms of the season, you're looking at a fairly long break to domestic leagues. I'd imagine the last league games before the world cup will be played over the weekend of Saturday 5th November, then we go into the two week FIFA window for training camps and pre-tournament friendlies. Hopefully FIFA will scrap the usual international windows in September and October of that year since qualifying will be long since completed. I'd expect the league season to resume on Boxing Day and we may see a fairly congested Christmas period with a full-card on Boxing Day (Monday), perhaps Thursday 29th, and then Monday 2nd January before settling back into the usual rhythm. I'd expect to see Scottish cup replays scrapped for this season (and possibly for good after it) and the league cup may be given a season off as well.

 

With all of the above considered they may be able to fit the full season into the normal window without having to extend it, which could have knock on effects on 2021/22 and 2023/24.

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It'll be interesting to see how they force the big clubs to surrender their best players, or even most of their squads, halfway through the season. Wouldn't surprise me if there are some big names missing due to niggling wee injuries that would take six weeks to recover from.

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9 minutes ago, BigFatTabbyDave said:

It'll be interesting to see how they force the big clubs to surrender their best players, or even most of their squads, halfway through the season. Wouldn't surprise me if there are some big names missing due to niggling wee injuries that would take six weeks to recover from.

Unless they had even bigger bucket loads of cash thrown at them by their club, I suspect most big names would be instructing their solicitors if they were held back from going to a World Cup, especially at a time they'd be at peak fitness.

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1 minute ago, 7-2 said:

Unless they had even bigger bucket loads of cash thrown at them by their club, I suspect most big names would be instructing their solicitors if they were held back from going to a World Cup, especially at a time they'd be at peak fitness.

I think you'd be surprised how many players would be happy enough to miss out if the people paying their wages asked them to. There are plenty of folk who don't care too much about nationality and, while I suppose it could be a good bit of promotion for them ahead of the transfer window, it won't have the same likelihood of landing a big-money transfer that a close-season World Cup would.

I don't have any particular Andy Grays people in mind   :P

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11 minutes ago, BigFatTabbyDave said:

I think you'd be surprised how many players would be happy enough to miss out if the people paying their wages asked them to. There are plenty of folk who don't care too much about nationality and, while I suppose it could be a good bit of promotion for them ahead of the transfer window, it won't have the same likelihood of landing a big-money transfer that a close-season World Cup would.

I don't have any particular Andy Grays people in mind   :P

I think I would, unless, as stated, it was bucket loads of the stuff.  The World Cup will still be a major shop window for players, especially those from outwith the 'elite' (spit) leagues no matter when it's held. Why would they be less likely to get a transfer because it's being held significantly earlier?

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57 minutes ago, 7-2 said:

I think I would, unless, as stated, it was bucket loads of the stuff.  The World Cup will still be a major shop window for players, especially those from outwith the 'elite' (spit) leagues no matter when it's held. Why would they be less likely to get a transfer because it's being held significantly earlier?

I've just noticed that UEFA are doing away with the rules regarding players being cup-tied in Europe after this season; that was a big part of my reasoning, as you'd need to be a completely unheard-of newcomer to be worth being bought by one of the big clubs, due to being ineligible for their important matches until after the summer. So, I guess the more mercenary-minded will still have their motivation for wanting to be in Qatar; carry on.

What a fucking decision that is by UEFA, by the way. It really is all about the elite clubs now, isn't it.

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13 minutes ago, GNU_Linux said:

Scenes when Israel qualify

It would be interesting to know what assurances FIFA have received that some of the Arab nations would actually play a fixture against Israel. I've heard that some of them still cut transmission during events where mention of Israel's existence is unavoidable.

Are countries ever kept apart during the draw for the final tournament purely because one or more of the countries don't like each other? Don't remember hearing about it happening.

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It would be interesting to know what assurances FIFA have received that some of the Arab nations would actually play a fixture against Israel. I've heard that some of them still cut transmission during events where mention of Israel's existence is unavoidable.
Are countries ever kept apart during the draw for the final tournament purely because one or more of the countries don't like each other? Don't remember hearing about it happening.
I'd imagine if Ukraine had made this years world cup they'd be kept apart from Russia. I've never seen teams kept apart in final tournaments but it's occured in qualifying on several occasions. Recent examples include Armenia/Azerbaijan (still the case iirc), Russia/Georgia & Spain/Gibraltar.
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8 minutes ago, GNU_Linux said:

I'd imagine if Ukraine had made this years world cup they'd be kept apart from Russia. I've never seen teams kept apart in final tournaments but it's occured in qualifying on several occasions. Recent examples include Armenia/Azerbaijan (still the case iirc), Russia/Georgia & Spain/Gibraltar.

That shouldn't be allowed at the finals IMO. If you're going to dictate the teams you're prepared to play, you can GTF,  no exceptions. It's just a game FFS.

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FIFA have announced Qatar World Cup is happening 21st November to 18th December 2022. How the hell is that going to work? What a balls-up from the money-grabbing corrupt mob. 


Finally a world cup tie will be played on my birthday. I usually take a day off anyway so this will be handy.


With Qatar being 3 hours ahead of us, you're probably looking at kickoff times of 9:30am, midday, 2:30pm and 5pm in the group stages and then probably 2:30pm and 5pm for the final group matches and knockouts.


Same time zone as Moscow I believe? So we may expect a 7pm game at least, for European TV audience.
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