We all know about the ongoing mega sporting event of FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar as the entire world is waiting for this year’s football champion, following are some interesting facts about the event that a Muslim should know:
1- Only Muslim Country Ever to Host the World Cup
It is a well-known fact that Qatar is the only Muslim country in the history of football world cups to host this mega event. They won the hosting rights for this year’s World Cup during 2010 bidding.
2- Only the 2nd Asian Country Ever to Host the Event
Football is a sport dominated majorly by European and South American countries including Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, and others. Most of the FIFA World Cups are hosted by European and South American countries. This year, Qatar became not only the 1st Muslim Country ever to host this event but also became only the 2nd Asian Country to host this mega event. The 1st Asian Country ever to host the FIFA World Cup was Japan which hosted the event in 2002.
3- Only Hosting Country to Have Never Played in Any Previous Editions
Every hosting nation before had played/qualified for the main round at least once but Qatar has been trying to qualify for the FIFA World Cup since 1963 but never achieved the feat. After securing the hosting rights for this year’s world cup, they automatically qualified for the main event and in the process, became only the host country ever which has never played in the world cup before.
4- The Smallest Nation to Host World Cup
Qatar is the smallest nation in history to host the FIFA World Cup, both geographically and population-wise (11,000 KM2 area with a 2.6M population). The previous record holder was Uruguay which hosted the event in 1930.
5- Host Country with the Least Number of Stadiums
As per schedule, Qatar is hosting all 64 matches of the World Cup in 8 stadiums which makes them the ‘Country to Host The World Cup with the least number of stadiums’.
6- The Most Compact World Cup in History
The 8 stadiums to host all 64 world cup matches in Qatar are within a 60 km radius, making it the most compact world cup ever.
7- Shortest World Cup Ever (28 Days)
In Qatar World Cup 2022, all 64 world matches will be played within the time period of 28 days, making it the shortest world cup ever in the history of FIFA World Cups.
8- First World Cup Ever to be Held during Winter
Traditionally, FIFA has a dedicated allocated slot for World Cups from May to July and during this period, most of the previous editions of FIFA World Cups were played. But this year, FIFA World Cup in Qatar is scheduled for November and December. The main reason is that most of Qatar’s land area is comprised of deserts and temperatures range from 40 to 50 degrees during the May-July period. So, in order to make the playing conditions more suitable for players, FIFA has rescheduled this year’s world cup to November and December.
9- Record Number of Visitors
It is expected that over 1.5M football lovers from all over the world will enter Qatar during the FIFA World cup 2022, making it the highest number of spectators to visit a host nation in the history of this mega event.
10- The Most Expensive World Cup Ever for the Hosts
FIFA World Cup 2022 will be the most expensive world cup ever for a host country as Qatar has spent approximately $220 billion for the infrastructure necessary to successfully conduct such a massive event. Qatar has spent most of this amount on roads, stadiums, and hotels in order to make them suitable for visitors.
