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The 2022 World Cup is fast approaching &#8211; and ahead of the tournament, which is held every four years, we have everything you need to know covered in this article.
<h2>Where is the World Cup 2022?</h2>
The 2022 World Cup will be held in Qatar, a country with a population of around 2.9m people, located on the Persian Gulf in the Middle East. 
It was awarded hosting rights all the way back in 2010. Qatar was joined by Australia, Japan, South Korea and the USA in seeking to host the 2022 tournament. 
Qatar eventually triumphed, gaining 14 of a possible 22 votes from FIFA Executive Committee members. 
But the result was mired in controversy, with allegations of corruption bringing the selection process into disrepute. 
Despite this, Qatar retained hosting rights and will host the tournament as planned. 
<div id="attachment_48723" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-48723" class="size-full wp-image-48723" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/World-Cup-2022.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/World-Cup-2022.jpg 1024w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/World-Cup-2022-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/World-Cup-2022-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/World-Cup-2022-610x407.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />The 2022 FIFA World Cup will be held in Qatar. Picture by Getty Images</div>
<h2>When does the World Cup 2022 start? </h2>
The World Cup 2022 starts at 16:00 GMT on Sunday, November 20, with hosts Qatar against Ecuador.
The first day of the event had initially been scheduled as Monday, November 21, with the first match featuring Senegal and the Netherlands. 
But in recent times, the tournament hosts have traditionally opened the World Cup and the schedule was altered by FIFA in August, paving the way for Qatar to kick-off the tournament. 
The tournament runs until the World Cup final on Sunday, December 18.
<h2>Why is the World Cup 2022 starting in November?</h2>
The World Cup is usually held in the middle of the calendar year, around May-July.
Temperatures in Qatar can hit upwards of 40 degrees Celsius in this time though, and while the country had planned to get around this issue through steps such as air conditioning in stadiums, the decision was eventually taken by FIFA to switch the dates of the World Cup. 
<h2>Will the World Cup 2022 clash with the Premier League? </h2>
The change in dates for the 2022 World Cup was, again, not without controversy. 
It will cause disruption to domestic football leagues in Europe as a result, whereas had the World Cup taken place in its usual position, this would have coincided with the European off-season. 
The Premier League is therefore taking a break during the tournament and no games will be held during the event. 
The last round of Premier League fixtures before the World Cup will take place in FPL Gameweek 16, on Saturday, November 12.
The Premier League will resume in FPL Gameweek 17, from Monday, December 26. 
<h2>Which countries are in the World Cup 2022?</h2>
A total of 205 countries entered qualifying for the World Cup 2022, with 31 places available. 
Qatar, as hosts, qualified automatically for the tournament, making a total of 32 teams. 
Qualification took place regionally, with the six football confederations organising qualification events. 
We have written detailed guides for each of these confederations &#8211; but the successful nations from each were as follows:
AFC (Asia): Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Australia, Qatar (hosts)
CAF (Africa): Senegal, Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Tunisia
CONCACAF (North, Central American and Caribbean): Canada, Mexico, USA, Costa Rica
CONMEBOL (South America): Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador
OFC (Oceania): No qualifiers
UEFA (European): Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Croatia, England and Germany, Wales, Poland, Portugal. 
<h2>Who are the defending World Cup champions?</h2>
France won the 2018 World Cup in Russia, defeating Croatia in the final 4-2. 
<div id="attachment_48722" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-48722" class="size-full wp-image-48722" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Mbappe-World-Cup-2022.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="681" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Mbappe-World-Cup-2022.jpg 1024w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Mbappe-World-Cup-2022-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Mbappe-World-Cup-2022-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Mbappe-World-Cup-2022-610x406.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Kylian Mbappe holds the World Cup aloft after the 2018 final in Russia. Picture by Getty Images</div>
<h2>Where can I watch the World Cup 2022?</h2>
BBC and ITV have the rights to broadcast the World Cup 2022 games in the UK.
<h2>World Cup 2022 draw: The groups </h2>
The draw for the 2022 World Cup took place in April in Doha, Qatar. 
The 32 nations were split into four pots, based on their FIFA World rankings. 
Qatar, as hosts, were the exception, being placed into pot one alongside the tournament’s seven top seeds. Based on ranking, they would have gone into pot four.
A team from each pot would make up each group, however teams from the same confederation could not be placed in the same group. In the case of European teams, there could be no more than two per group.
The groups were drawn as follows:
Group A: Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands
Group B: England, Iran, USA, Wales
Group C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland
Group D: France, Australia, Denmark, Tunisia
Group E: Spain, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan
Group F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia
Group G: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon
Group H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea
<h2>Is there World Cup fantasy football?</h2>
There are a number of options expected to be running for fantasy football fans during the World Cup.
The last two major tournaments have seen official games run by FIFA and UEFA, sponsored by McDonald&#8217;s, as well as games run by the likes of Fanteam, Telegraph and Sun.
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World Cup 2022: Everything you need to know about the Qatar tournament and World Cup fantasy football games

World Cup 2022: Everything you need to know about the Qatar tournament and World Cup fantasy football games

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