2022 FIFA World Cup – Qatar
Qatar was selected to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup at the same event that Russia was selected. Qatar won bids from the United States, South Korea, Japan and Australia.
There was a lot of criticism over FIFA’s choice due to concerns over the country’s treatment of migrant workers, women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Another criticism was due to Qatar’s climate.
Unlike previous tournaments, that were always played between June and July, the 2022 edition was going to be played in November and December because of the heat.
There was also a new substitution rule, allowing teams to make up to five substitutions during regular time, and another during extra time.
This would be the last competition to be played by 32 nations. FIFA decided to expand the number of nations to 48 for the 2026 World Cup, that will be held in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The 32 places would be allocated as follow: 1 for the hosts, 13 to UEFA (including Israel), 4 to CONMEBOL, 4 to AFC, 3 to CONCACAF and 5 to CAF. One of the last 2 places would be contested by the 4th from CONCACAF vs. and the winner of OFC. The other would be contested by the 5th from AFC vs. the 5th from CONMEBOL.
Morocco made history becoming the first African and the first Arab nation to advance to the semi-finals of the competition. Then, they played against France and weren’t able to advance to the finals.
The final was played by Argentina and France, that was playing their second consecutive final. Both teams were seeking their third title. Messi and Di Maria gave Argentina an early lead in the first half. In the second half France was able to tie the game, with two goals from Mbappé. After regular time, the game as 2-2. Messi scored again in the first half of extra time and Mbappé, two minutes from the end of the match, scored his third goal in the final, becoming the second player ever to complete a hat-trick in the final of the world cup. With the score tied at 3-3, the match was decided with a penalty shoot-out. Coman and Tchouaméni from France missed their shots and Argentina won the match, giving them their third title. It was the first time, since 2002, that a non European team won the world cup.
List of qualified teams: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Cameroon, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, England, France, Ghana, Germany, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, United States, Uruguay, Wales.
Champions: Argentina
2nd place: France
3rd place: Croatia
Top scorer player: Kylian Mbappé, France – 6 goals
Top scorer team: France, 16 goals
Total of goals: 172 goals
Average per match: 2.69
List of all the tournaments
- 1930 FIFA World Cup – Uruguay
- 1934 FIFA World Cup – Italy
- 1938 FIFA World Cup – France
- 1950 FIFA World Cup – Brazil
- 1954 FIFA World Cup – Switzerland
- 1958 FIFA World Cup – Sweden
- 1962 FIFA World Cup – Chile
- 1966 FIFA World Cup – England
- 1970 FIFA World Cup – Mexico
- 1974 FIFA World Cup – West Germany