After 12 years of questions, criticism and speculation, the FIFA World Cup in Qatar finally kicks off on Sunday.
The preparations for the tournament, the first to be held in a Muslim country in the Middle East, have been mired in controversy.
But FIFA has asked all 32 competing nations to “focus on football” and host Qatar will open the tournament against Ecuador at the Albeit Stadium (16:00 GMT).
The qualifying home nations are in the same group and in action the following day, with England taking on Iran (13:00), before Wales take on the USA (19:00).
JEE News looks at the list of controversies, excitement building on the ground in Qatar, and who could win the World Cup.
What conflicts occurred?
Qatar 2022 will go down as the most talked about and controversial World Cup in history.
The Gulf nation beat out bids from South Korea, Japan, Australia and the United States to host the tournament, but the process drew widespread allegations of corruption, which Qatar has always denied.
In February 2021, the Guardian stated that 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka had died since Qatar won its World Cup bid.
This number is based on data provided by the embassies of countries in Qatar.
However, Qatar’s government said the totals were misleading, as not all deaths recorded were of people working on World Cup-related projects. The government said its accident records showed there were 37 deaths among workers on World Cup stadium construction sites between 2014 and 2020, of which only three were “work-related”.
However, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said this was an underestimate.
How LGBT fans can expect to be treated given the country’s strict Sharia law outlawing homosexuality in Qatar.
FIFA-affiliated organizations at the tournament have said that “progress has been slow” and that “issues of concern” remain.
UK Pride organizations have called on bars and venues not to screen World Cup matches in a boycott of the tournament.
Players have been urged to use their influence to speak out about the country’s problems and England defender Conor Cody said at a news conference in Doha on Thursday that “we are not politicians”.
The Everton defender added: “We’re never going to be politicians in terms of the way we see things but in terms of what the squad has done over the last few years and how much it’s helped people. , it comes with the territory.”
Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president and the man who announced the award of the tournament to Qatar in 2010, said last week that the decision was a “mistake”.
A day before the tournament, FIFA president Gianni Infantino accused the West of “hypocrisy” in its reporting on Qatar’s human rights record.
In an unusual monologue at a news conference in Doha, Infantino spoke for nearly an hour and passionately defended Qatar and the tournament.
Temperatures here often reach 50°C in summer, which is why the tournament was moved to a ‘winter’ venue for the first time, although it still averages 32°C during the day and a pleasant 22°C in the evening. is centigrade.
This means the European leagues have been halted mid-season, with the opening game taking place just a week after the last Premier League match between Fulham and Manchester United.
Three months after kick-off, the FIFA Council approved a request from South American confederation Conmebol to move the start of the tournament a day earlier than planned.
And just two days before the event, organizers announced that fans would not be able to purchase or consume alcohol in or around any of the eight stadiums.
At 29 days from start to finish (November 20 to December 18), it will be the shortest World Cup since Argentina 1978.
This means organizers have to schedule four games on most days during the group stages and there is no turnaround time between the groups and the knockout stages, with the last 16 starting after the group stage ends.
