2022 FIFA World Cup

The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in 2010. It was the first World Cup to be held in the Middle East and Persian Gulf countries, and the second in an Asian country after the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan.

2022 FIFA World Cup
كأس العالم لكرة القدم 2022
عالوعد‎ "Now Is All"
Tournament details
Host country	Qatar
Dates	20 November – 18 December
Teams	32 (from 5 confederations)
Venue(s)	8 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Argentina (3rd title)
Runners-up	France
Third place	Croatia
Fourth place	Morocco
Tournament statistics
Matches played	64
Goals scored	172 (2.69 per match)
Attendance	3,404,252 (53,191 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Kylian Mbappé (8 goals)
Best player(s)	Lionel Messi
Best young player	Enzo Fernández
Best goalkeeper	Emiliano Martínez
Fair play award	England
← 2018 2026 →

This tournament was the last with 32 participating teams, with the number of teams being increased to 48 for the 2026 World Cup. To avoid the extremes of Qatar's hot and humid climate in summers, the event was held in November and December, becoming the first one to take place outside the traditional months of May, June, and July. It was held over a reduced time frame of 29 days with 64 matches played in eight venues across five cities. Qatar entered the event—their first World Cup—automatically as the host's national team, alongside 31 teams determined by the qualification process.

Morocco made history by becoming the first African nation to reach the semi-final of a World Cup, falling short 0-2 against France.Argentina were crowned the champions after winning the final against the title holder France 4–2 on penalties following a 3–3 draw after extra time. It was Argentina's third title and their first since 1986, as well as being the first nation from outside of Europe to win the tournament since 2002. French player Kylian Mbappé became the first player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final since Geoff Hurst in the 1966 final and won the Golden Boot as he scored the most goals (eight) during the tournament. Mbappé also became the first player to score in two consecutive finals since Vavá of Brazil did the same in 1958 and 1962.

Argentine captain Lionel Messi was voted the tournament's best player, winning his second Golden Ball. The tournament has been considered exceptionally poetic as the capstone of his career, with the win fulfilling for some commentators a previously unmet criterion to be regarded as the greatest player of all time. Teammates Emiliano Martínez and Enzo Fernández won the Golden Glove, awarded to the tournament's best goalkeeper; and the Young Player Award, awarded to the tournament's best young player, respectively. With 172 goals, the tournament set a record for the highest number of goals scored in the 32-team format, with every participating team scoring at least one goal.

The choice to host the World Cup in Qatar attracted significant criticism, with concerns raised over the country's treatment of migrant workers, women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as Qatar's climate, lack of a strong football culture, scheduling changes, and allegations of bribery for hosting rights and wider FIFA corruption.

Format

The FIFA World Cup is a professional football tournament held between national football teams, organised by FIFA. The tournament, held every four years, was first played in 1930 in Uruguay, and has been contested by 32 teams since the 1998 event. The tournament was contested with eight round-robin groups followed by a knockout round for 16 teams. The defending champions were France, who defeated Croatia 4–2 in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final. The event was scheduled to take place under a reduced length, from 20 November to 18 December in Qatar. Being held in Qatar, it was the first World Cup tournament to be held in the Arab world. Spectators were not required to follow most COVID-19 restrictions such as social distancing, wearing masks, and negative tests.

Schedule

Unlike previous FIFA World Cups, which are typically played in June and July, because of Qatar's intense summer heat and often fairly high humidity, the 2022 World Cup was played in November and December. As a result, the World Cup was unusually staged in the middle of the seasons of many domestic association football leagues, which started in late July or August, including all of the major European leagues, which had been obliged to incorporate extended breaks into their domestic schedules to accommodate the World Cup. Major European competitions had scheduled their respective competitions group matches to be played before the World Cup, to avoid playing group matches the following year.

The match schedule was confirmed by FIFA on 15 July 2020. The group stage was set to begin on 21 November, with four matches every day. Later, the schedule was tweaked by moving the Qatar vs Ecuador game to 20 November, after Qatar lobbied FIFA to allow their team to open the tournament. The final was played on 18 December 2022, National Day, at Lusail Stadium. Unlike previous tournaments where the match venues and kick-off times for each fixture were set prior to the draw, the assignment of group fixtures for each matchday to a specific venue and kick-off time was only made after the final draw, with the teams of each specific fixture known. This was due to the close proximity of the venues, which allowed the organizers to optimize stadium allocation for spectators and kick-off times for television audiences.

The matches for each group were allocated to the following stadiums:

Groups A, B, E, F: Al Bayt Stadium, Khalifa International Stadium, Al Thumama Stadium, Ahmad bin Ali Stadium
Groups C, D, G, H: Lusail Stadium, Stadium 974, Education City Stadium, Al Janoub Stadium

FIFA confirmed the group stage venue and kick-off times on 1 April 2022, following the draw.

Prize money

In April 2022, FIFA announced the prizes for all participating nations. Each qualified team received $1.5 million before the competition to cover preparation costs with each team receiving at least $9 million in prize money. This edition's total prize pool was $440 million, $40 million greater than the prize pool of the previous tournament.

Place	Teams	Amount (in millions)
Place	Teams	Per team	Total
Champions	1	$42	$42
Runners-up	1	$30	$30
Third place	1	$27	$27
Fourth place	1	$25	$25
5th–8th place (quarter-finals)	4	$17	$68
9th–16th place (round of 16)	8	$13	$104
17th–32nd place (group stage)	16	$9	$144
Total	32	$440

Rule changes

The tournament featured new substitution rules whereby teams could make up to five substitutions in normal time, and an additional substitution in extra time. In addition, it was the first World Cup to feature concussion substitutions, whereby each team was permitted to use a maximum of one concussion substitute during a match. A concussion substitution did not count towards a team's quota of regular substitutions. Iranian goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand suffered a concussion in his country's opening match against England and was replaced by Hossein Hosseini. This was the first use of a dedicated concussion substitute during a World Cup.

Host selection

Russian President Vladimir Putin handing over the symbolic relay baton for the hosting rights of the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in June 2018.

The bidding procedure to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups began in January 2009. National associations had until 2 February 2009 to register interest. Initially, 11 bids were made for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but Mexico withdrew from proceedings, and Indonesia's bid was rejected by FIFA in February 2010 after the Indonesian Football Association failed to submit a letter of Indonesian government guarantee to support the bid.

After UEFA were guaranteed to host the 2018 event, members of UEFA were no longer in contention to host in 2022. There were five bids remaining for the 2022 FIFA World Cup: Australia, Japan, Qatar, South Korea, and the United States. The 22-member FIFA Executive Committee convened in Zürich, Switzerland, on 2 December 2010 to vote to select the hosts of both tournaments. Two FIFA executive committee members were suspended before the vote in relation to allegations of corruption regarding their votes. The decision to host the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which was graded as having "high operational risk", generated criticism from media commentators. It was criticised by many as being part of the FIFA corruption scandals, which led to the 2015 FIFA corruption case.

The voting patterns were as follows:

2022 FIFA bidding (majority 12 votes)
Bidders	Votes
Bidders	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4
Qatar	11	10	11	14
United States	3	5	6	8
South Korea	4	5	5	Eliminated
Japan	3	2	Eliminated
Australia	1	Eliminated

Cost of hosting the tournament

At an estimated cost of over $220 billion, it is the most expensive World Cup ever held to date; this figure is disputed by Qatari officials, including organising CEO Nasser Al Khater, who said the true cost was $8 billion, and other figures related to overall infrastructure development since the World Cup was awarded to Qatar in 2010.

Venues

The first five proposed venues for the World Cup were unveiled at the beginning of March 2010. Qatar intended that the stadiums should reflect its history and culture, and for the designs to meet the following terms of reference: legacy, comfort, accessibility, and sustainability. The stadiums were equipped with cooling systems that aim to reduce temperatures within the stadium by up to 20 °C (36 °F).

Their marketing included statements describing the stadiums as zero waste, and the upper tiers of the stadiums will be disassembled after the World Cup and donated to countries with less developed sports infrastructure. Qatar aspired to be compliant and certified by the Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) for all the World Cup stadiums. All of the five stadium projects launched were designed by German architect Albert Speer & Partners. The Al Bayt and Al Wakrah stadiums were the only indoor stadiums of the eight used.

Some venues, such as the 68,000-seat Al Bayt Stadium, were planned to have their upper tiers of seating removed to reduce capacity after the tournament, however this is yet to happen.

In an April 2013 report by Merrill Lynch, the organisers in Qatar requested that FIFA approve a smaller number of stadiums due to the growing costs.Bloomberg said that Qatar wished to cut the number of venues to eight or nine from the twelve originally planned. By April 2017, FIFA had yet to finalise the number of stadiums Qatar must have readied in five years' time. Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) said it expected there would be eight in and near Doha, with the exception of Al Khor.

Eight stadiums in five Qatari cities were built or renovated for the FIFA World Cup. Between 2010 (when Qatar were announced as hosts) and 2022, seven of the eight stadiums were built (some in place of older, outdated venues) and the Khalifa International Stadium was renovated for the tournament.

Al Khor: Al Bayt Stadium (new). The first piles were driven into the ground in 2014. On 30 November 2021 it hosted its first match.
Lusail: Lusail Stadium (new). The construction of the stadium was started on 11 April 2017. It was completed on 21 November 2021.
Al Rayyan: Ahmad bin Ali Stadium (new). The stadium was built on the demolished former stadium site. It was commissioned on 18 December 2020.
Al Rayyan: Education City Stadium (new). It was completed on 15 June 2020.
Al Rayyan: Khalifa International Stadium (heavily renovated). The largest stadium in the country at the time, it was closed for renovation in 2014. It was commissioned in May 2017.
Doha: Al Thumama Stadium (new). Construction was completed on 21 October 2021.
Doha: Stadium 974 (new). Construction commenced in 2018. It was completed on 30 November 2021 and had hosted some of the matches in 2021 FIFA Arab Cup.
Al Wakrah: Al Janoub Stadium (new). Construction officially started in 2014 and was completed on 16 May 2019.

Of these eight stadiums, all but two have since been either dismantled, or have been moderately or heavily modified. The Stadium 974 was supposed to be dismantled after the tournament; as of November 2024 however, this has not happened and the stadium has sat abandoned in its original site—this stadium was the first planned temporary stadium ever used for a FIFA World Cup.Lusail Stadium, Al Bayt Stadium, Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Education City Stadium, Al Thumama Stadium and Al Janoub Stadium will be moderately or heavily modified as reduce their capacity by half. The Khalifa International Stadium (latter along with the Stadium 974) are the only largely unmodified stadium that were used for this tournament.

Host cities and stadiums

Al Khor

Lusail

Al Rayyan

Doha

Al Wakrah

class=notpageimage|

Location of the host cities of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

16km
9.9miles

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

Location of the stadiums of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

1

Al Bayt Stadium

2

Lusail Stadium

3

Ahmad bin Ali Stadium

4

Education City Stadium

5

Khalifa International Stadium

6

Al Thumama Stadium

7

Stadium 974

8

Al Janoub Stadium

List of host cities and stadiums
City	Stadium	Capacity
Al Khor	Al Bayt Stadium	68,895
Lusail	Lusail Stadium	88,966
Al Rayyan	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium	45,032
	Education City Stadium	44,667
	Khalifa International Stadium	45,857
Doha	Al Thumama Stadium	44,400
Doha	Stadium 974	44,089
Al Wakrah	Al Janoub Stadium	44,325

Team base camps

Base camps were used by the 32 national squads to stay and train before and during the World Cup tournament. In July 2022, FIFA announced the hotels and training sites for each participating team. This World Cup was the most compact since the inaugural edition in 1930, with 24 of the 32 teams being within a 10 km radius of each other, and are concentrated within the Doha Area. It was the first Cup since 1930 in which players did not need to take flights to matches and could remain at the same training base throughout the entire tournament.

List
Team	Hotel	Training site
Argentina	Qatar University Hostel 1	Qatar University Training Site 3
Australia	New Aspire Academy Athlete Accommodation	Aspire Zone Training Facilities 5
Belgium	Hilton Salwa Beach Resort and Villas	Salwa Training Site
Brazil	The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa	Al Arabi SC Stadium
Cameroon	Banyan Tree Doha at La Cigale Mushaireb	Al Sailiya SC Stadium
Canada	Century Marina Hotel Lusail	Umm Salal SC Training Facilities
Costa Rica	dusitD2 Salwa Doha	Al Ahli SC Stadium
Croatia	Hilton Doha	Al Ersal Training Site 3
Denmark	Retaj Salwa Resort & SPA	Al Sailiya SC 2
Ecuador	Hyatt Regency Oryx Doha	Mesaimeer SC Training Facilities
England	Souq Al Wakra Hotel Qatar by Tivoli	Al Wakrah SC Stadium
France	Al Messila – A Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, Doha	Al Sadd SC Stadium
Germany	Zulal Wellness Resort	Al Shamal SC Stadium
Ghana	DoubleTree by Hilton Doha – Al Sadd	Aspire Zone Training Facilities 1
Iran	Al Rayyan Hotel Doha Curio Collection by Hilton	Al Rayyan SC Training Facilities 1
Japan	Radisson Blu Hotel Doha	Al Sadd SC New Training Facilities 1
Mexico	Simaisma, A Murwab Resort	Al Khor SC Stadium
Morocco	Wyndham Doha West Bay	Al Duhail SC Stadium
Netherlands	The St. Regis Doha	Qatar University Training Site 6
Poland	Ezdan Palace Hotel	Al Kharaitiyat SC Training Facilities
Portugal	Al Samriya Autograph Collection Hotel	Al Shahaniya SC Training Facilities
Qatar	Al Aziziyah Boutique Hotel	Aspire Zone Training Facilities 3
Saudi Arabia	Sealine Beach, a Murwab Resort	Sealine Training Site
Senegal	Duhail Handball Sports Hall	Al Duhail SC 2
Serbia	Rixos Gulf Hotel Doha	Al Arabi SC Training Facilities
South Korea	Le Méridien City Center Doha	Al Egla Training Site 5
Spain	Qatar University Hostel 2	Qatar University Training Site 1
Switzerland	Le Royal Méridien, Doha	University of Doha for Science and Technology Training Facilities
Tunisia	Wyndham Grand Doha West Bay Beach	Al Egla Training Sites 3
United States	Marsa Malaz Kempinski, The Pearl – Doha	Al Gharafa SC Stadium
Uruguay	Pullman Doha West Bay	Al Ersal Training Site 1
Wales	Delta Hotels City Center Doha	Al Sadd SC New Training Facilities 2

Security

The Qatari government employed about 50,000 security personnel including police departments and military forces from at least thirteen countries, including Poland, Germany, France, Kuwait, Jordan, Italy, Palestine, Spain, Pakistan, Turkey, USA, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. The Turkish government provided about 3,000 riot police personnel, and Pakistan provided about 4,500 Army troops to Qatar for the event.

Teams

Qualification

FIFA's six continental confederations organised their own qualifying competitions. All 211 FIFA member associations were eligible to enter qualification. The Qatari national team, as hosts, qualified automatically for the tournament. However, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) obliged Qatar to participate in the Asian qualifying stage as the first two rounds also act as qualification for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. Since Qatar reached the final stage as winners in their group, Lebanon, the fifth-best second place team, advanced instead.France, the reigning World Cup champions, qualified for the event through European qualification.

Saint Lucia initially entered CONCACAF qualification but withdrew from it before their first match. North Korea withdrew from the AFC qualifying round due to safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both American Samoa and Samoa withdrew before the OFC qualification draw due to travel restrictions following the pandemic.Tonga withdrew after the 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai eruption and tsunami. Due to COVID-19 outbreaks in their squads, Vanuatu and Cook Islands also withdrew because of the travel restrictions.

Of the 32 nations qualified to play at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, 24 countries competed at the previous tournament in 2018. Qatar were the only team making their debut in the FIFA World Cup, becoming the first hosts to make their tournament debut since Italy in 1934. The Netherlands, Ecuador, Ghana, Cameroon, and the United States returned to the tournament after missing the 2018 tournament. Canada returned after 36 years, their only prior appearance being in 1986.Wales made their first appearance in 64 years—the longest-ever gap for any team, their only previous participation having been in 1958.

Italy, four-time winners and reigning European champions, failed to qualify for a second successive World Cup for the first time in their history, losing in the qualification play-off semi-finals. The Italians were the only former champions and the highest ranked team in the FIFA Men's World Rankings that failed to qualify. Italy were also the fourth team to have failed to qualify for the upcoming World Cup after having won the previous UEFA European Championship, following Czechoslovakia in 1978, Denmark in 1994, and Greece in 2006. The previous World Cup hosts, Russia, were disqualified from competing due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Chile, the 2015 and 2016 Copa América winners, failed to qualify for the second consecutive time. Nigeria were defeated by Ghana on away goals in Confederation of African Football (CAF) final playoff round, having qualified for the previous three World Cups and six out of the last seven. Egypt, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Iceland, and Sweden, all of whom qualified for the 2018 World Cup, did not qualify for the 2022 tournament.Ghana were the lowest ranked team to qualify, ranked 61st.

As of 2026, this was the last time Jordan, New Zealand, and Uzbekistan failed to qualify.

The qualified teams, listed by region, with numbers in parentheses indicating final positions in the FIFA Men's World Ranking before the tournament were:

AFC (6)

Australia (38)
Iran (20)
Japan (24)
Qatar (50) (hosts) (debut)
Saudi Arabia (51)
South Korea (28)

CAF (5)

Cameroon (43)
Ghana (61)
Morocco (22)
Senegal (18)
Tunisia (30)

CONCACAF (4)

Canada (41)
Costa Rica (31)
Mexico (13)
United States (16)

CONMEBOL (4)

Argentina (3)
Brazil (1)
Ecuador (44)
Uruguay (14)

OFC (0)

None qualified

UEFA (13)

Belgium (2)
Croatia (12)
Denmark (10)
England (5)
France (4)
Germany (11)
Netherlands (8)
Poland (26)
Portugal (9)
Serbia (21)
Spain (7)
Switzerland (15)
Wales (19)

Team qualified

  Team failed to qualify

  Team withdrew or suspended

  Not a FIFA member

Squads

Before submitting their final squad for the tournament, teams named a provisional squad of up to 55 players. Teams were required to have their 55-player roster submitted to FIFA by 21 October. Teams were required to name their final squads by 13 November. In August 2022, FIFA increased the final squad size to 26 players from a total of 23 players at the 2018 World Cup. All teams had a total of 26 players in their final squads except for France and Iran, who chose 25 players.

Draw

The final draw was held at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center in Doha, Qatar, on 1 April 2022, 19:00 AST, prior to the completion of qualification. The two winners of the inter-confederation play-offs and the winner of the Path A of the UEFA play-offs were not known at the time of the draw. The draw was attended by 2,000 guests and was led by Carli Lloyd, Jermaine Jenas and sports broadcaster Samantha Johnson, assisted by the likes of Cafu (Brazil), Lothar Matthäus (Germany), Adel Ahmed Malalla (Qatar), Ali Daei (Iran), Bora Milutinović (Serbia/Mexico), Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria), Rabah Madjer (Algeria), and Tim Cahill (Australia).

For the draw, 32 teams were allocated into four pots based on the FIFA Men's World Rankings of 31 March 2022. Pot 1 contained host Qatar (who were automatically assigned to position A1) and the best seven teams. Pot 2 contained the next best eight teams, with the next best eight teams into pot 3. Pot 4 contained the five lowest-ranked teams, along with the placeholders for the two inter-confederation play-off winners and the UEFA Path A play-off winner. Teams from the same confederation could not be drawn into the same group except for UEFA teams, for which there was at least one and no more than two per group.

This principle also applied to the placeholder teams, with constraints applying based on the confederation of both potential winners of each play-off tie. The draw started with pot 1 and ended with pot 4, with each team selected then allocated into the first available group alphabetically. The position for the team within the group would then be drawn (for the purpose of the match schedule), with the pot 1 teams automatically drawn into position 1 of each group. The pots for the draw are shown below.

Draw
Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Qatar (51) (hosts) Brazil (1) Belgium (2) France (3) Argentina (4) England (5) Spain (7) Portugal (8)	Mexico (9) Netherlands (10) Denmark (11) Germany (12) Uruguay (13) Switzerland (14) United States (15) Croatia (16)	Senegal (20) Iran (21) Japan (23) Morocco (24) Serbia (25) Poland (26) South Korea (29) Tunisia (35)	Cameroon (37) Canada (38) Ecuador (46) Saudi Arabia (49) Ghana (61) Wales (18) Costa Rica (31) Australia (42)

Draw result

The eight groups were formed randomly, selecting one team from each of the four pots. Two teams from the same confederation could not be placed into the same group, with the exception of UEFA teams, where up to two teams could be in the same group. The only team whose position in the draw was predetermined was the host Qatar, who were placed into position A1.

Group A
Pos	Team
A1	Qatar
A2	Ecuador
A3	Senegal
A4	Netherlands

Group B
Pos	Team
B1	England
B2	Iran
B3	United States
B4	Wales

Group C
Pos	Team
C1	Argentina
C2	Saudi Arabia
C3	Mexico
C4	Poland

Group D
Pos	Team
D1	France
D2	Australia
D3	Denmark
D4	Tunisia

Group E
Pos	Team
E1	Spain
E2	Costa Rica
E3	Germany
E4	Japan

Group F
Pos	Team
F1	Belgium
F2	Canada
F3	Morocco
F4	Croatia

Group G
Pos	Team
G1	Brazil
G2	Serbia
G3	Switzerland
G4	Cameroon

Group H
Pos	Team
H1	Portugal
H2	Ghana
H3	Uruguay
H4	South Korea

Officiating

In May 2022, FIFA announced the list of 36 referees, 69 assistant referees, and 24 video assistant referees for the tournament. Of the 36 referees, FIFA included two each from Argentina, Brazil, England, and France.

For the first time women referees officiated games at a major men's tournament. France's Stéphanie Frappart, Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda, and Yoshimi Yamashita from Japan became the first female referees to be appointed to a men's World Cup. Frappart previously oversaw the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final. They were joined by three female assistant referees, Neuza Back, Kathryn Nesbitt, and Karen Díaz Medina. Frappart then officially became the first-ever female referee to officiate a World Cup match when she worked the Costa Rica vs Germany match in Group E on 1 December.

Gambian referee Bakary Gassama and Argentine assistant referee Juan Pablo Belatti were among the officials to serve at their third World Cup. Belatti was an assistant referee in the 2018 final. Other returning officials included referees César Arturo Ramos of Mexico and Janny Sikazwe of Zambia, and Iranian assistant referee Mohammadreza Mansouri.

On 15 December 2022, FIFA announced that Polish referee Szymon Marciniak would adjudicate the final.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony took place on Sunday, 20 November 2022 at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, prior to the opening match of the tournament between hosts Qatar and Ecuador. It included appearances by Morgan Freeman and Ghanim Al-Muftah, along with performances by South Korean singer and BTS member Jungkook and Qatari singer Fahad Al Kubaisi. It was the first time that the Qur'an had been recited as part of the opening ceremony. During the ceremony, Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani declared the tournament open.

Group stage

Result of countries participating in the 2022 FIFA World Cup

The group stage was played from 20 November to 2 December. Competing countries were divided into eight groups of four teams (groups A to H). Teams in each group played one another in a round-robin, where the top two teams advanced to the knockout stage.

Tie-breaking criteria for group play
The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows: Points obtained in all group matches; Goal difference in all group matches; Number of goals scored in all group matches; Points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question; Goal difference in the matches played between the teams in question; Number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question; Fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction could be applied to a player in a single match): Yellow card: −1 points; Indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points; Direct red card: −4 points; Yellow card and direct red card: −5 points; Drawing of lots.

Group A

The first match of the tournament was held between Qatar and Ecuador in Group A. Ecuador had a disallowed goal in the opening minutes, but eventually won 2–0 with two goals from Enner Valencia. Qatar became the first host nation to lose their opening match at a World Cup. Many Qatar natives were seen leaving the game before the end, with ESPN reporting that two-thirds of the attendance had left. The other starting match in group A was won by the Netherlands 2–0 over Senegal. Cody Gakpo scored the opening goal in the 84th minute and Davy Klaassen added a second in stoppage time. Senegal faced Qatar in the third match of the group; Boulaye Dia capitalised on a slip by Boualem Khoukhi to put Senegal 1–0 ahead. Famara Diédhiou scored a second with a header, before Mohammed Muntari scored Qatar's first-ever goal at a World Cup to reduce the deficit back to one. Senegal eventually won the match 3–1 after an 84th-minute goal by Bamba Dieng. With this result, Qatar became the first team to be eliminated from the tournament, as well as becoming the first host nation to ever be knocked out of the tournament after two games. Gakpo scored his second goal of the tournament as the Netherlands led Ecuador; however, Valencia scored an equaliser in the 49th minute. The Netherlands won 2–0 against Qatar following goals by Gakpo and Frenkie de Jong to win the group, while Qatar attained the distinction of being the first home nation to lose all three group matches. Senegal faced Ecuador to determine the second knockout round qualifier. At the end of the first half, Ismaïla Sarr scored a penalty kick to put Senegal ahead. In the 67th minute, Moisés Caicedo scored an equaliser, but shortly after, Kalidou Koulibaly gave Senegal the victory. The win was enough to qualify Senegal as the runners-up of Group A.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Netherlands	3	2	1	0	5	1	+4	7	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Senegal	3	2	0	1	5	4	+1	6	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Ecuador	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
4	Qatar (H)	3	0	0	3	1	7	−6	0

Source: FIFA
(H) Hosts

20 November 2022

19:00

Qatar	0–2	Ecuador
	Report	Valencia 16' (pen.), 31'

Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor

Attendance: 67,372

Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy)

21 November 2022