The 2022 FIFA World Cup is scheduled to be the 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international men’s football championship contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It is scheduled to take place in Qatar in 2022. This will be the first World Cup ever to be held in the Arab world and the first in a Muslim-majority country. The tournament will be the second to be held entirely in Asia after the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.
The tournament is scheduled to take place between 21 November and 18 December 2022. Qatar, as the host country, will automatically qualify for the tournament, while the remaining 31 places will be determined through a qualifying process, in which the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is allocated the most slots (eight).
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the qualifying rounds, which were originally to have started in June 2020, have been postponed to March 2021.
The final tournament will be played in eight stadiums, seven of which are scheduled to be completed before the end of 2020. The main venues are located in five host cities: Doha (the capital), Al-Rayyan, Al-Khor, Al-Wakrah, and Umm Said. The humanoid robot Pepper will be assisting human workers at the tournament.
The winner of the 2022 World Cup will earn the right to participate in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as well as thetablishment of Qatar as the first Arab World Cup host country.
The competition has been marred by numerous controversies, including accusations of bribery and corruption in the bidding process, and concerns over the treatment of migrant workers in Qatar.