Written by: Tanner Christie

Thirty-two teams will compete all over the world to try to win the World Cup. The World Cup kicks off November 20th and concludes December 18th. The most recent winners consist of France in 2018, Germany in 2014, and Spain in 2010 with other teams like Italy and Brazil excelling in the early 2000’s. While most European countries are exceptionally good at soccer, Brazil holds the most championships with five World Cup wins, the most recent in 2002, and takes the 1st place ranking heading into the tournament. Despite appearing in the World Cup many times, no North American country has ever won let alone made it to the World Cup final. Mexico made the Round of 16 in 2018, and then lost to Brazil. Other favorable European teams to watch out for are England, Germany, France, and Portugal are the ones to watch out for. 

The World Cup consists of teams who have qualified through regional matches that already occurred over the summer months. The World Cup qualifying determines the 32 teams who will compete in the tournament. These are divided into eight total groups with four teams per group:

Group A: Ecuador, Qatar, Netherlands, Senegal 

Group B: Iran, USA, Wales, England

Group C: Mexico, Argentina, Poland, Saudi 

Group D: France, Tunisia, Denmark, Australia 

Group E: Costa Rica, Germany, Japan, Spain 

Group F: Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Morocco 

Group G: Brazil, Serbia, Cameron, Switzerland

Group H: Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea, Portugal. 

There are problems with this years host of the World Cup: 

There has been a lot of money put into hosting the world cup event. It cost 220 billion to host the world cup this year.  In addition to the cost, there are only 2 million people living in the entire country of Qatar at the moment, of which 200,000 people are expected to show up to watch the World Cup games. Allegations of corruption, bribery, and human rights have occurred during the planning stages of this international event. With the Qatar leader paying billions of dollars to FIFA to host the World Cup in Qatar this year, some people think football is a “scandal.” due to a scandal of human rights and bribery. 

Other countries like Canada, the United States, Czech Republic were also looking to host the World Cup this year. It is believed that Qatar invested a lot of money in bribing FIFA to host. The organizers of the World Cup disagree believing  Qatar won the right to have the World Cup in their country. 

The World Cup will be held in eight brand-new stadiums across Qatar. These stadiums come with a cost: $220 billion. Qatar not only had to build stadiums, but also new transportation infrastructures such as trains, bus routes, and hotels surrounding the stadiums. Eight stadiums are quite a lot for such a small country, making it the smallest nation ever to host a World Cup. A whopping 1.5 million people are expected to watch World Cup games in 2022. Most stadiums in Qatar can hold up to 60,000 people. 

Not only is it all about the games and country hosting, it is also about the fans supporting their team. While 200,000 people are expected to travel to Qatar to participate in World Cup Concerts and attend games, millions are expected to watch the games in their home countries either viewing at home or at restaurants and bars near them.

Because of this, the 2022 World Cup is bound to be interesting. So, we will see who comes out on top!