Soccer fans around the world will enjoy a different World Cup. This year, and for the first time ever, the 22nd edition of the tournament, one of the most anticipated in world sports, will be taking place between November and December, breaking from the established tradition of playing in June and July.

The event, which was ultimately moved due to the extreme temperatures in the host nation Qatar, will be the first one to be held in the Middle East, and the second in the Asian football confederation.

Brazil, Argentina, and France will be entering the competition as favorites to lift the World Cup trophy and soccer lovers will enjoy watching every single play of their stars but none of those squads will start the competition.

When and which teams are playing the World Cup opening game?

Host nation Qatar and Ecuador will have the honor to kick off the competition in Group A action at 7 pm local time on November 20 in Al Bayt Stadium. That’s 4 pm CET, 10 am US (ET), and 7 am US (PT).

It is tournament tradition that the host nation plays in the tournament’s first match. However, when the 2022 FIFA World Cup schedule was set back in April, it did not include an inaugural game involving Qatar.

Instead, Félix Sánchez’s squad was scheduled to be playing the second of four matches on opening day on Monday, November 21, behind Senegal vs. Netherlands.

But three months before the start of the World Cup, FIFA announced that Qatar would finally kick off the tournament a day earlier.

World Cup opening ceremony

The opening ceremony, which also moved a day earlier (Saturday) due to the shift of the tournament’s opening match to Sunday, is expected to feature the tournament’s official anthem, songs from the soundtrack, and the mascot of the 2022 World Cup.

The official FIFA World Cup soundtrack released its first single in April 2022, a song titled Hayya Hayya (Better Together), while the official mascot is La’eeb, which means ‘super-skilled player’ in Arabic.

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The group stage games will kick off at staggered intervals throughout the day, with the opening matches set to be played at 1 pm local time -10 am CET, 4 am US (ET), and 1 am US (PT)-.

There are three other kickoff times that will be utilized during the group stage, with the final window coming at 10 pm local time -7pm CET, 1 pm US (ET), and 10 am US (PT)-.