2022 FIFA World Cup

2022 FIFA World Cup

كأس العالم لكرة القدم 2022 Kaʾs al-ʿālam li-kurrat al-qadam 2022 Qatar 2022
Tournament logo
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)
Runner-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	Lionel Messi
Best young player	Enzo Fernández
Best goalkeeper	Emiliano Martínez
Fair play award	England
← 2018 2026 →

The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup, an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The most recent edition of the tournament to occur, It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, making it the first World Cup held in the Arab world and Muslim world, and the second held entirely in Asia after the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan. The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the first edition of the tournament being held during the Northern Hemisphere winter months, with a November start and a December finish. France were the defending champions, having defeated Croatia 4–2 in the 2018 final. At an estimated cost of over $220 billion, it is currently the most expensive World Cup ever held; 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.

This tournament was the last with 32 participating teams, with the field set to increase to 48 teams for the 2026 edition. To avoid the extremes of Qatar's hot climate, the event was held during November and December. It was held over a reduced time frame of 29 days with 64 matches played in eight venues across five cities. The Qatar national football team entered the event – their first World Cup – automatically as the host's national team, alongside 31 teams who were determined by the qualification process. Qatar lost all three group matches; becoming the first hosts to lose every game, the earliest host nation eliminated, and the second host (after South Africa in 2010) not to progress past the first stage.

Argentina were the champions after winning the final against the title holder France 4–2 on penalties following a 3–3 draw after extra time. 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. Argentine captain Lionel Messi was voted the tournament's best player, winning the Golden Ball. Emiliano Martínez and Enzo Fernández, also from Argentina, 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.

The choice to host the World Cup in Qatar was a source of controversy due to Qatar's treatment of migrant workers, women, and its position on LGBT rights 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.

Overview

The FIFA World Cup is a professional association 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 is contested with eight round-robin groups followed by a knockout round for 16 teams. The defending champions are the French national football team, who defeated the Croatia national football team 4–2 in the 2018 FIFA World Cup final. The event is scheduled to take place under a reduced length, from 20 November to 18 December in Qatar. Being held in Qatar, it is the first World Cup tournament to be held in the Arab world. Spectators were not required to follow most COVID-19 pandemic 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 is being played in November and December. As a result, the World Cup is unusually staged in the middle of the seasons of domestic football leagues, which start in late July or August, including all of the major European leagues, which have been obliged to incorporate extended breaks into their domestic schedules to accommodate the World Cup. Major European competitions have 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 in 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 successfully lobbied FIFA to allow their team to open the tournament. The final will be played on 18 December 2022, National Day, at Lusail Iconic Stadium.

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 Iconic 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. On 11 August, it was confirmed that Qatar vs Ecuador had been brought forward one day, now becoming the tournament's opening match, while Senegal vs Netherlands, which would have opened the tournament under the original schedule, had been reallocated to the freed-up timeslot.

Prize money

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

Place	Amount ($ million)
	Per team	Total
Champions	42	42
Runners-up	30	30
Third place	27	27
Fourth place	25	25
5th–8th place (quarter-finals)	17	68
9th–16th place (Round of 16)	13	104
17th–32nd place (Group stage)	9	144
Total		440

Rule changes

The tournament will feature new substitution rules where teams may make up to five substitutions in normal time, and an additional substitution in extra time. In addition, it will be the first World Cup to feature concussion substitutions, where each team is permitted to use a maximum of one concussion substitute during a match. A concussion substitution does not count towards a team's quota of regular substitutions. Iranian goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand became the first concussion substitute in World Cup history, being taken off in his country's opening match against England.

Host selection

The bidding procedure to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups began in January 2009, and national associations had until 2 February 2009 to register their interest. Initially, eleven bids were made for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but Mexico later withdrew from proceedings, and Indonesia's bid was rejected by FIFA in February 2010 after the Indonesian government failed to submit a letter to support the bid. Indonesian officials had not ruled out a bid for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, until Qatar took the 2022 cup. During the bidding process, all non-UEFA nations gradually withdrew from the 2018 bids, thus making the UEFA nations ineligible for the 2022 bid.

There were eventually five bids for the 2022 FIFA World Cup: Australia, Japan, Qatar, South Korea and the United States. The twenty-two member FIFA Executive Committee convened in Zürich on 2 December 2010 to vote to select the hosts of both tournaments. The decision to host the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which was graded as having "high operational risk", generated criticism from media commentators, LGBT rights groups and American, Australian and English officials. There have been allegations of bribery or corruption in the selection process involving four members of FIFA's executive committee, which FIFA investigated. However the whistleblower, revelead to be Phaedra Almajid, later retracted her claims of bribery. She claimed she fabricated them in order to exact revenge on the Qatari bid team for relieving her of her job with them. She also denied being put under any pressure to make her retraction. FIFA confirmed receiving an email from her which stated her retraction.

Qatar is the smallest nation by area ever to have been awarded a FIFA World Cup - the next smallest by area is Switzerland, host of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, which is more than three times as large as Qatar. Qatar is also expected to be the second-smallest host by population to host the competition - Uruguay had a population of 1.7 million by the time it hosted the 1930 World Cup, already less than Qatar's current 2013 population of 1.9 million.

The voting patterns were as follows:

2022 FIFA bidding (majority 12 votes)

Bidders	Votes
	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4
Qatar	11	10	11	14
United States	3	5	6	8
South Korea	4	5	5	—
Japan	3	2	—	—
Australia	1	—	—	—

Teams

Qualification

Main article: 2022 FIFA World Cup 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 also went through qualifying stages as normal.

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. 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 are the only team making their debut in the FIFA World Cup, becoming the first hosts to make their tournament debut since Italy in 1934. As a result, the 2022 tournament is the first World Cup in which none of the teams that earned a spot through qualification were making their debut. 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, the 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 that failed to qualify, and the highest ranked team in the FIFA Men's World Rankings to do so. Italy are also the fourth team to have failed to qualify for the upcoming World Cup having won the previous UEFA European Championship, after 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.

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

AFC (6) Australia (38) Iran (20) Japan (24) Qatar (50) (hosts) 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)

Draw

Main article: 2022 FIFA World Cup seeding

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 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, the 32 teams were allocated into four pots based on the FIFA Men's World Rankings of 31 March 2022. Pot one contained the hosts Qatar (who were automatically assigned to position A1) and the best seven teams. Pot two 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.

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)

Squads

Main article: 2022 FIFA World Cup squads

Before submitting their final squad for the tournament, teams name 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 edition. All teams have a total of 26 players in their final squads except for France, who decided not to replace Karim Benzema after he sustained an injury, and Iran, who chose 25 players.

Venues

The first five proposed venues for the World Cup were unveiled at the beginning of March 2010. The stadiums aim to employ cooling technology capable of reducing temperatures within the stadium by up to 20 °C (36 °F), and the upper tiers of the stadiums will be disassembled after the World Cup and donated to countries with less developed sports infrastructure. All of the five stadium projects launched have been designed by German architect Albert Speer & Partners.

The Al-Khor Stadium is planned for Al Khor, located 50 kilometres north of Doha. The stadium will have a total capacity of 45,330, with 19,830 of the seats forming part of a temporary modular upper tier. The Al-Wakrah Stadium, to be located in Al-Wakrah in southern Qatar, will have a total capacity of 45,120 seats. The stadium will also contain a temporary upper tier of 25,500 seats. The stadium will be surrounded by large solar panels and will be decorated with Islamic art. The Al-Wakrah and Al-Khor stadiums would have been built regardless of whether Qatar was awarded the World Cup, according to the bid committee. However, the temporary upper-tier sections will now also be added as Qatar has won the right to host the tournament.

A report released on 9 December 2010 quoted FIFA President Sepp Blatter as stating that Qatar's neighbours could host some matches during the World Cup. However, no specific countries were named in the report. Blatter added that any such decision must be taken by Qatar first and then endorsed by FIFA's executive committee. Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan told the Australian Associated Press that holding games in Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, and possibly Saudi Arabia would help to incorporate the people of the region during the tournament.

According to a report released in April 2013 by Merrill Lynch; the investment banking division of Bank of America, the organizers in Qatar have requested from FIFA to approve a smaller number of stadiums due to the growing costs. Bloomberg.com said that Qatar wishes to cut the number of venues to 8 or 9 from the 12 originally planned.

		Lusail (Doha area)	Al Khor
		Lusail Iconic Stadium	Al Bayt Stadium
		Capacity: 80,000	Capacity: 60,000
		Al Rayyan (Doha area)
		Education City Stadium	Al-Rayyan Stadium
		Capacity: 45,350	Capacity: 44,740
Al Wakrah	Doha
Al Janoub Stadium	Stadium 974	Al Thumama Stadium	Khalifa International Stadium
Capacity: 40,000	Capacity: 40,000	Capacity: 40,000 (under construction)	Capacity: 40,000

Team base camps

Base camps will be 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 is 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 is 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.

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

Tournament summary

Opening ceremony

Main article: 2022 FIFA World Cup 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.

Group stage matches

The group stage was played from the 2 November to 2 December. 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. In losing the game, 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 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 were 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, Ismaila 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.

In Group B, England completed a 6–2 victory over Iran. Iranian keeper Alireza Beiranvand was removed from the game for a suspected concussion before England scored three first-half goals. Mehdi Taremi scored in the second half after which England defender Harry Maguire was also removed for a concussion. Timothy Weah, of the United States, scored a first-half goal against Wales; however, the match finished as a draw after a penalty kick was won and scored by Gareth Bale. Iran defeated Wales 2–0 following a red card to Welsh goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey after he committed a foul outside of his penalty area. Substitute Rouzbeh Cheshmi scored the first goal eight minutes into stoppage time, followed by Ramin Rezaeian scoring three minutes later. England and the United States played to a 0–0 draw, with only four shots on target between them. England won the group following a 3–0 win over Wales with a goal by Phil Foden and two by Rashford. The United States defeated Iran 1–0 as Christian Pulisic scored the winning goal to qualify for the round of 16.

In Group C, Argentina took an early lead against Saudi Arabia after Lionel Messi scored a penalty kick after ten minutes; however, second-half goals by Saleh Al-Shehri and Salem Al-Dawsari won the match 2–1 for Saudi Arabia, a result described as a "shock." The match between Mexico and Poland ended as a goalless 0–0 draw after Guillermo Ochoa saved Robert Lewandowski's penalty kick attempt. Lewandowski scored his first career World Cup goal in a 2–0 win over Saudi Arabia four days later. Argentina defeated Mexico 2–0, with Messi scoring the opener and teammate Enzo Fernández scoring his first international goal. Argentina won their last game as they played Poland with goals by Alexis Mac Allister and Julián Álvarez which was enough to win the group. Mexico scored two goals against Saudi Arabia, and with the Argentina leading 2–0 over Poland they required a single goal to qualify as the runner-up. However, Al-Dawsari scored a goal in stoppage time for Saudi Arabia. Despite losing by two goals to Argentina, Poland qualified for the knockout stage on goal difference.

The match between Denmark and Tunisia in Group D ended as a goalless draw; both teams had goals disallowed by offside calls. Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen made his first major international appearance since suffering a cardiac arrest at the UEFA Euro 2020. Defending champions France went a goal behind to Australia, after a Craig Goodwin goal within ten minutes. France, however, scored four goals, by Adrien Rabiot, by Kylian Mbappé, and two by Olivier Giroud to win 4–1. The goals tied Giroud with Thierry Henry as France's all-time top goalscorer. Mitchell Duke scored the only goal as Australia won against Tunisia. This was their first World Cup win since 2010. Mbappé scored a brace as France defeated Denmark 2–1. This was enough for France to qualify for the knockout round – the first time since Brazil in 2006 that the defending champions progressed through the opening round. Mathew Leckie scored the only goal as Australia defeated Denmark 1–0, qualifying for the knockout round as runners-up with the win. Wahbi Khazri scored for Tunisia against France in the 58th minute. Although Antoine Griezmann equalised in stoppage time it was overturned for offside. Tunisia finished third in the group, as they required a draw in the Denmark and Australia game.

Group E began with Japan facing 2014 champions Germany. After an early penalty kick was converted by Germany's İlkay Gündoğan, Japan scored two-second-half goals by Ritsu Dōan and Takuma Asano in a 2–1 upset win. In the second group match, Spain defeated Costa Rica 7–0. First-half goals by Dani Olmo, Marco Asensio, and Ferran Torres were followed by goals by Gavi, Carlos Soler, Alvaro Morata and a second by Torres. This was the largest defeat in a World Cup since Portugal's victory over North Korea in the 2010 event by the same scoreline. Costa Rica defeated Japan 1–0, with Keysher Fuller scoring with Costa Rica's first shot on target of the tournament. Germany and Spain drew 1–1, with Álvaro Morata scoring for Spain and Niclas Füllkrug scoring for Germany. Morata scored the opening goal for Spain against Japan as they controlled the first half of the match. Japan equalised on Ritsu Doan before a second goal by Kaoru Mitoma was heavily investigated by VAR for the ball being out of play. The goal was awarded, and Japan won the group following a 2–1 win. Serge Gnabry scored on ten minutes for Germany against Costa Rica and they lead until half-time. Germany required a win, and for Japan to not win their match to qualify. In the second half, goals by Yeltsin Tejeda and Juan Vargas gave Costa Rica a 2–1 lead, which would have qualified them into the knockout stages ahead of Spain. Germany scored three further goals, two by Kai Havertz and a goal by Niclas Fullkrug ending in a 4–2 win for Germany, which was not enough to qualify them for the final stages. Japan won the group ahead of Spain.

Group F's first match was a goalless draw between Morocco and Croatia. Canada had a penalty kick in the first half of their match against Belgium which was saved by Thibaut Courtois. Belgium won the match by a single goal by Michy Batshuayi. Belgium manager Roberto Martínez confirmed after the game that he believed Canada to have been the better team. Belgium lost 2–0 to Morocco, despite Morocco having a long-range direct free kick goal by Hakim Ziyech overturned for an offside on another player in the lead up to the goal. Two second-half goals from Zakaria Aboukhlal and Romain Saïss helped the Morocco win their first World Cup match since 1998. The match sparked riots in Belgium, with residents fires and fireworks being set off. Alphonso Davies scored Canada's first World Cup goal to give Canada the lead over Croatia. Goals by Marko Livaja, Lovro Majer and two by Andrej Kramarić for Croatia completed a 4–1 victory. Morocco scored two early goals through Hakim Ziyech and Youssef En-Nesyri in their game against Canada, and qualified following a 2–1 victory. Croatia and Belgium played a goalless draw which eliminated ranked two team Belgium from the tournament.

Breel Embolo scored the only goal in the opening match of Group G as Switzerland defeated Cameroon 1–0. Richarlison scored two goals as Brazil won against Serbia, with star player Neymar receiving an ankle injury. Cameroon's Jean-Charles Castelletto scored the opening goal against Serbia, but they were quickly behind as Serbia scored three goals by Strahinja Pavlović, Sergej Milinković-Savić and Aleksandar Mitrović either side of half time. Cameroon, however, scored goals through Vincent Aboubakar and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting completed a 3–3 draw. An 83rd minute winner by Casemiro for Brazil over Switzerland was enough for them to qualify for the knockout stage. Having already qualified, Brazil were unable to win their final group game, as they were defeated by Cameroon 1–0 following a goal by Vincent Aboubakar. He was later sent off for removing his shirt in celebrating the goal. Cameroon, however, did not qualify, as Switzerland defeated Serbia 3–2.

In Group H, Uruguay and South Korea played to a goalless draw. A goalless first half between Portugal and Ghana preceded a penalty converted by Cristiano Ronaldo to give Portugal the lead. In scoring the goal, Ronaldo became the first man to score in five World Cups. Ghana responded with a goal by André Ayew before goals by João Félix, and Rafael Leão by Portugal put them 3–1 ahead. Osman Bukari scored in the 89th minute to trail by a single goal, while Iñaki Williams had a chance to equalise for Ghana ten minutes into stoppage time, but slipped before shooting. The match finished 3–2 to Portugal. Ghanaian Mohammed Salisu opened the scoring against South Korea, with Mohammed Kudus following it up. In the second half, Cho Gue-sung scored a brace for South Korea, levelling the score. Mohammed Kudus scored again in the 68th minute, winning the match 3–2 for Ghana. Portugal defeated Uruguay 2–0 with two goals from Bruno Fernandes, advancing them to the knockout stage. A controversial penalty decision was called late in the game, with a suspected handball from José María Giménez. Portugal led South Korea through Ricardo Horta after 10 minutes. However, goals by Kim Young-gwon and Hwang Hee-chan won the match 2–1 for South Korea. Giorgian de Arrascaeta scored two goals as Uruguay defeated Ghana 2–0. However, with South Korea winning, Uruguay required another goal to progress as they finished third on goals scored. Several Uruguay players left the pitch after the game surrounding the referees and followed them off the pitch.

Group stage

All times are local, AST (UTC+3).

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: Win: 3 points; Draw: 1 point; Loss: 0 points; 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 can be applied to a player in a single match): Yellow card: −1 point; 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

Main article: 2022 FIFA World Cup Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
Netherlands	3	2	1	0	5	1	+4	7	Advance to knockout phase
Senegal	3	2	0	1	5	4	+1	6
Ecuador	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
Qatar (H)	3	0	0	3	1	7	−6	0

20 November 2022 (2022-11-20) 19:00	Qatar	0–2	Ecuador	Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor Attendance: 67,372 Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy)
		Report	Valencia  16' (pen.), 31'

21 November 2022 (2022-11-21) 19:00	Senegal	0–2	Netherlands	Al Thumama Stadium, Doha Attendance: 41,721 Referee: Wilton Sampaio (Brazil)
		Report	Gakpo  84' Klaassen  90+9'

---

25 November 2022 (2022-11-25) 16:00	Qatar	1-3	Senegal	Al Thumama Stadium, Doha Attendance: 41,797 Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz (Spain)
	Muntari  78'	Report	Dia  41' Diédhiou  48' B. Dieng  84'

25 November 2022 (2022-11-25) 19:00	Netherlands	1-1	Ecuador	Khalifa International Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 44,833 Referee: Mustapha Ghorbal (Algeria)
	Gakpo  6'	Report	Valencia  49'

---

29 November 2022 (2022-11-29) 18:00	Ecuador	1–2	Senegal	Khalifa International Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 44,569 Referee: Clément Turpin (France)
	Caicedo  67'	Report	I. Sarr  44' (pen.) Koulibaly  70'

29 November 2022 (2022-11-29) 18:00	Netherlands	2–0	Qatar	Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor Attendance: 66,784 Referee: Bakary Gassama (Gambia)
	Gakpo  26' F. de Jong  49'	Report

Group B

Main article: 2022 FIFA World Cup Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
England	3	2	1	0	9	2	+7	7	Advance to knockout phase
United States	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5
Iran	3	1	0	2	4	7	−3	3
Wales	3	0	1	2	1	6	−5	1

21 November 2022 (2022-11-21) 16:00	England	6–2	Iran	Khalifa International Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 45,334 Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
	Bellingham  35' Saka  43', 62' Sterling  45+1' Rashford  71' Grealish  90'	Report	Taremi  65', 103' (Pen)

21 November 2022 (2022-11-21) 22:00	United States	1–1	Wales	Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 43,418 Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)
	Weah  36'	Report	Bale  82' (pen.)

---

25 November 2022 (2022-11-25) 13:00	Wales	0-2	Iran	Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 40,875 Referee: Mario Escobar (Guatemala)
		Report	Cheshmi  90+8' Rezaeian  90+11'

25 November 2022 (2022-11-25) 22:00	England	0–0	United States	Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor Attendance: 68,463 Referee: Jesús Valenzuela (Venezuela)
		Report

---

29 November 2022 (2022-11-29) 22:00	Wales	0–3	England	Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 44,297 Referee: Slavko Vinčić (Slovenia)
		Report	Rashford  50', 68' Foden  51'

29 November 2022 (2022-11-29) 22:00	Iran	0–1	United States	Al Thumama Stadium, Doha Attendance: 42,127 Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz (Spain)
		Report	Pulisic  38'

Group C

Main article: 2022 FIFA World Cup Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
Argentina	3	2	0	1	5	2	+3	6	Advance to knockout phase
Poland	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
Mexico	3	1	1	1	2	3	−1	4
Saudi Arabia	3	1	0	2	3	5	−2	3

22 November 2022 (2022-11-22) 13:00	Argentina	1–2	Saudi Arabia	Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail Attendance: 88,012 Referee: Slavko Vinčić (Slovenia)
	Messi  10' (pen.)	Report	Al-Shehri  48' S. Al-Dawsari  53'

22 November 2022 (2022-11-22) 19:00	Mexico	0–0	Poland	Stadium 974, Doha Attendance: 39,369 Referee: Chris Beath (Australia)
		Report

---

26 November 2022 (2022-11-26) 16:00	Poland	2–0	Saudi Arabia	Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 44,259 Referee: Wilton Sampaio (Brazil)
	Zieliński  39' Lewandowski  82'	Report

26 November 2022 (2022-11-26) 22:00	Argentina	2–0	Mexico	Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail Attendance: 88,966 Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy)
	Messi  64' Fernández  87'	Report

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30 November 2022 (2022-11-30) 22:00	Poland	0–2	Argentina	Stadium 974, Doha Attendance: 44,089 Referee: Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)
		Report	Mac Allister  46' Álvarez  67'

30 November 2022 (2022-11-30) 22:00	Saudi Arabia	1–2	Mexico	Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail Attendance: 84,985 Referee: Michael Oliver (England)
	S. Al-Dawsari  90+5'	Report	Martín  47' Chávez  52'

Group D

Main article: 2022 FIFA World Cup Group D

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
France	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6	Advance to knockout phase
Australia	3	2	0	1	3	4	−1	6
Tunisia	3	1	1	1	1	1	0	4
Denmark	3	0	1	2	1	3	−2	1

22 November 2022 (2022-11-22) 16:00	Denmark	0–0	Tunisia	Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 42,925 Referee: César Arturo Ramos (Mexico)
		Report

22 November 2022 (2022-11-22) 22:00	France	4–1	Australia	Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah Attendance: 40,875 Referee: Victor Gomes (South Africa)
	Rabiot  27' Giroud  32', 71' Mbappé  68'	Report	Goodwin  9'

---

26 November 2022 (2022-11-26) 13:00	Tunisia	0–1	Australia	Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah Attendance: 41,823 Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany)
		Report	Duke  23'

26 November 2022 (2022-11-26) 19:00	France	2–1	Denmark	Stadium 974, Doha Attendance: 42,860 Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
	Mbappé  61', 86'	Report	Christensen  68'

---

30 November 2022 (2022-11-30) 18:00	Australia	1–0	Denmark	Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah Attendance: 41,232 Referee: Mustapha Ghorbal (Algeria)
	Leckie  60'	Report

30 November 2022 (2022-11-30) 18:00	Tunisia	1–0	France	Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 43,627 Referee: Matthew Conger (New Zealand)
	Khazri  58'	Report

Group E

Main article: 2022 FIFA World Cup Group E

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
Japan	3	2	0	1	4	3	+1	6	Advance to knockout phase
Spain	3	1	1	1	9	3	+6	4
Germany	3	1	1	1	6	5	+1	4
Costa Rica	3	1	0	2	3	11	−8	3

23 November 2022 (2022-11-23) 16:00	Germany	1–2	Japan	Khalifa International Stadium, Al-Rayyan Attendance: 42,608 Referee: Iván Barton (El Salvador)
	Gündoğan  33' (pen.)	Report	Dōan  75' Asano  83'

23 November 2022 (2022-11-23) 19:00	Spain	7–0	Costa Rica	Al Thumama Stadium, Doha Attendance: 40,013 Referee: Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed (United Arab Emirates)
	Olmo  11' Asensio  21' F. Torres  31' (pen.), 54' Gavi  74' Soler  90' Morata  90+2'	Report

---

27 November 2022 (2022-11-27) 13:00	Japan	0–1	Costa Rica	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 41,479 Referee: Michael Oliver (England)
		Report	Fuller  81'

27 November 2022 (2022-11-27) 22:00	Spain	1–1	Germany	Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor Attendance: 68,895 Referee: Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)
	Morata  62'	Report	Füllkrug  83'

---

1 December 2022 (2022-12-01) 22:00	Japan	2–1	Spain	Khalifa International Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 44,851 Referee: Victor Gomes (South Africa)
	Dōan  48' Tanaka  51'	Report	Morata  11'

1 December 2022 (2022-12-01) 22:00	Costa Rica	2–4	Germany	Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor Attendance: 67,054 Referee: Stéphanie Frappart (France)
	Tejeda  58' Vargas  70'	Report	Gnabry  10' Havertz  73', 85' Füllkrug  89'

Group F

Main article: 2022 FIFA World Cup Group F

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
Morocco	3	2	1	0	4	1	+3	7	Advance to knockout phase
Croatia	3	1	2	0	4	1	+3	5
Belgium	3	1	1	1	1	2	−1	4
Canada	3	0	0	3	2	7	−5	0

23 November 2022 (2022-11-23) 13:00	Morocco	0–0	Croatia	Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor Attendance: 59.407 Referee: Fernando Rapallini (Argentina)
		Report

23 November 2022 (2022-11-23) 22:00	Belgium	1–0	Canada	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 40,432 Referee: Janny Sikazwe (Zambia)
	Batshuayi  44'	Report

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27 November 2022 (2022-11-27) 16:00	Belgium	0–2	Morocco	Al Thumama Stadium, Doha Attendance: 43,738 Referee: César Arturo Ramos (Mexico)
		Report	Saïss  73' Aboukhlal  90+2'

27 November 2022 (2022-11-27) 19:00	Croatia	4–1	Canada	Khalifa International Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 44,374 Referee: Andrés Matonte (Uruguay)
	Kramarić  36', 70' Livaja  44' Majer  90+4'	Report	Davies  2'

---

1 December 2022 (2022-12-01) 18:00	Croatia	0–0	Belgium	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 43,984 Referee: Anthony Taylor (England)
		Report

1 December 2022 (2022-12-01) 18:00	Canada	1–2	Morocco	Al Thumama Stadium, Doha Attendance: 43,102 Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
	Aguerd  40' (o.g.)	Report	Ziyech  4' En-Nesyri  23'

Group G

Main article: 2022 FIFA World Cup Group G

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
Brazil	3	2	0	1	3	1	+2	6	Advance to knockout phase
Switzerland	3	2	0	1	4	3	+1	6
Cameroon	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
Serbia	3	0	1	2	5	8	−3	1

24 November 2022 (2022-11-24) 13:00	Switzerland	1-0	Cameroon	Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah Attendance: 39,089 Referee: Facundo Tello (Argentina)
	Embolo  48'	Report

24 November 2022 (2022-11-24) 22:00	Brazil	2–0	Serbia	Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail Attendance: 88,103 Referee: Alireza Faghani (Iran)
	Richarlison  62', 73'	Report

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28 November 2022 (2022-11-28) 13:00	Cameroon	3–3	Serbia	Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah Attendance: 39,789 Referee: Mohammed Abdulla (United Arab Emirates)
	Castelletto  29' Aboubakar  63' Choupo-Moting  66'	Report	Pavlović  45+1' S. Milinković-Savić  45+3' A. Mitrović  53'

28 November 2022 (2022-11-28) 19:00	Brazil	1–0	Switzerland	Stadium 974, Doha Attendance: 43,649 Referee: Iván Barton (El Salvador)
	Casemiro  83'	Report

---

2 December 2022 (2022-12-02) 22:00	Serbia	2–3	Switzerland	Stadium 974, Doha Attendance: 41,378 Referee: Fernando Rapallini (Argentina)
	A. Mitrović  26' Vlahović  35'	Report	Shaqiri  20' Embolo  44' Freuler  48'

2 December 2022 (2022-12-02) 22:00	Cameroon	1–0	Brazil	Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail Attendance: 85,986 Referee: Ismail Elfath (United States)
	Aboubakar  90+2'	Report

Group H

Main article: 2022 FIFA World Cup Group H

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
Portugal	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2	6	Advance to knockout phase
South Korea	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
Uruguay	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
Ghana	3	1	0	2	5	7	−2	3

24 November 2022 (2022-11-24) 16:00	Uruguay	0–0	South Korea	Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 41,663 Referee: Clément Turpin (France)
		Report

24 November 2022 (2022-11-24) 19:00	Portugal	3–2	Ghana	Stadium 974, Doha Attendance: 42,662 Referee: Ismail Elfath (United States)
	Ronaldo  65' (pen.) Félix  78' Leão  80'	Report	A. Ayew  73' Bukari  89'

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28 November 2022 (2022-11-28) 16:00	South Korea	2–3	Ghana	Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 43,983 Referee: Anthony Taylor (England)
	Cho Gue-sung  58', 61'	Report	Salisu  24' Kudus  34', 68'

28 November 2022 (2022-11-28) 22:00	Portugal	2–0	Uruguay	Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail Attendance: 88,668 Referee: Alireza Faghani (Iran)
	Fernandes  54', 90+3' (pen.)	Report

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2 December 2022 (2022-12-02) 18:00	Ghana	0–2	Uruguay	Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah Attendance: 43,443 Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany)
		Report	De Arrascaeta  26', 32'

2 December 2022 (2022-12-02) 18:00	South Korea	2–1	Portugal	Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 44,097 Referee: Facundo Tello (Argentina)
	Kim Young-gwon  27' Hwang Hee-chan  90+1'	Report	Horta  5'

Knockout stage

Main article: 2022 FIFA World Cup knockout stage

In the knockout stage, if the scores are equal at the end of normal playing time, extra time is played for two periods of 15 minutes each. This is followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners.

Bracket

The tournament bracket is shown below, with bold denoting the winner of each match. The tournament bracket is shown below, with bold denoting the winner of each match.

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

3 December – Al Rayyan (Khalifa)

Netherlands

3

9 December – Lusail

United States

1

Netherlands

2 (3)

3 December – Al Rayyan (Ahmad bin Ali)

Argentina (p)

2 (4)

Argentina

2

13 December – Lusail

Australia

1

Argentina

3

5 December – Al Wakrah

Croatia

0

Japan

1 (1)

9 December – Al Rayyan (Education)

Croatia (p)

1 (3)

Croatia (p)

1 (4)

5 December – Doha (974)

Brazil

1 (2)

Brazil

4

18 December – Lusail

South Korea

1

Argentina

3 (4)

4 December – Al Khor

France

3 (2)

England

3

10 December – Al Khor

Senegal

0

England

1

4 December – Doha (Al Thumama)

France

2

France

3

14 December – Al Khor

Poland

1

France

2

6 December – Al Rayyan (Education)

Morocco

0

Third place play-off

Morocco (p)

0 (3)

10 December – Doha (Al Thumama)

17 December – Al Rayyan (Khalifa)

Spain

0 (0)

Morocco

1

Croatia

2

6 December – Lusail

Portugal

0

Morocco

1

Portugal

6

Switzerland

1

Round of 16

3 December 2022 (2022-12-03) 18:00	Netherlands	3–1	United States	Khalifa International Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 44,846 Referee: Wilton Sampaio (Brazil)
	Depay  10' Blind  45+1' Dumfries  81'	Report	Wright  76'

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3 December 2022 (2022-12-03) 22:00	Argentina	2–1	Australia	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 45,032 Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
	Messi  35' Álvarez  57'	Report	Fernández  77' (o.g.)

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4 December 2022 (2022-12-04) 18:00	France	3–1	Poland	Al Thumama Stadium, Doha Attendance: 40,989 Referee: Jesús Valenzuela (Venezuela)
	Giroud  44' Mbappé  74', 90+1'	Report	Lewandowski  90+9' (pen.)

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4 December 2022 (2022-12-04) 22:00	England	3–0	Senegal	Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor Attendance: 65,985 Referee: Iván Barton (El Salvador)
	Henderson  38' Kane  45+3' Saka  57'	Report

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5 December 2022 (2022-12-05) 18:00	Japan	1–1	Croatia	Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah Attendance: 42,523 Referee: Ismail Elfath (United States)
	Maeda  43'	Report	Perišić  55'
		Penalties
	Minamino Mitoma Asano Yoshida	1–3	Vlašić Brozović Livaja Pašalić

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5 December 2022 (2022-12-05) 22:00	Brazil	4–1	South Korea	Stadium 974, Doha Attendance: 43,847 Referee: Clément Turpin (France)
	Vinícius  7' Neymar  13' (pen.) Richarlison  29' Paquetá  36'	Report	Paik Seung-ho  76'

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6 December 2022 (2022-12-06) 18:00 AST (UTC+3)	Morocco	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Spain	Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 44,667 Referee: Fernando Rapallini (Argentina)
		Report
		Penalties
	Sabiri Ziyech Benoun Hakimi	3–0	Sarabia Soler Busquets

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6 December 2022 (2022-12-06) 22:00	Portugal	6–1	Switzerland	Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail Attendance: 83,720 Referee: César Arturo Ramos (Mexico)
	Ramos  17', 51', 67' Pepe  33' Guerreiro  55' Leão  90+2'	Report	Akanji  58'

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Quarter-finals

9 December 2022 (2022-12-09) 18:00	Croatia	1–1	Brazil	Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 43,893 Referee: Michael Oliver (England)
	Petković  117'	Report	Neymar  105+1'
		Penalties
	Vlašić Majer Modrić Oršić	4–2	Rodrygo Casemiro Pedro Marquinhos

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9 December 2022 (2022-12-09) 22:00	Netherlands	2–2 (a.e.t.)	Argentina	Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail Attendance: 88,235 Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz (Spain)
	Weghorst  83', 90+11'	Report	Molina  35' Messi  73' (pen.)
		Penalties
	Van Dijk Berghuis Koopmeiners Weghorst L. de Jong	3–4	Messi Paredes Montiel Fernández La. Martínez

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10 December 2022 (2022-12-10) 18:00	Morocco	1–0	Portugal	Al Thumama Stadium, Doha Attendance: 44,198 Referee: Facundo Tello (Argentina)
	En-Nesyri  42'	Report

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10 December 2022 (2022-12-10) 22:00	England	1–2	France	Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor Attendance: 68,895 Referee: Wilton Sampaio (Brazil)
	Kane  54' (Pen)	Report	Tchouaméni  17' Giroud  78'

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Semi-finals

13 December 2022 (2022-12-13) 22:00	Argentina	3–0	Croatia	Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail Attendance: 88,966 Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy)
	Messi  34' (pen.) Álvarez  39', 69'	Report

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14 December 2022 (2022-12-14) 22:00	France	2–0	Morocco	Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor Attendance: 68,294 Referee: César Arturo Ramos (Mexico)
	T. Hernandez  5' Kolo Muani  79'	Report

Third-place match

17 December 2022 (2022-12-17) 18:00	Croatia	2–1	Morocco	Khalifa International Stadium, Al Rayyan Attendance: 44,137 Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)
	Gvardiol  7' Oršić  42'	Report	Dari  9'

Final

Main article: 2022 FIFA World Cup Final

The final was played on 18 December between Argentina and France. Both teams had won the event twice previously. Early goals from Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria gave Argentina a head start against the French, leading 2–0. Despite multiple substitutions in the first half, France did not record a shot until after the 70th minute, but were energised by additional substitutions in the 71st. A few minutes later, France were awarded a penalty as Randal Kolo Muani was brought down in the penalty area. Mbappé scored the penalty, and added a second goal less than two minutes later to equalise the scores. With the score tied at two goals apiece, the match went to extra time. Messi scored his second goal in the 108th minute, once again giving Argentina the lead. However, Mbappé was awarded a second penalty in the 115th minute after his shot hit the arm of Gonzalo Montiel. Mbappé scored his third goal, becoming the second player ever to complete a hat-trick in the final of a World Cup. With the score tied at 3–3, the match was determined via a penalty shootout. Argentina won the final after scoring all of their penalties, winning 4–2. This marked their third World Cup win and their first since 1986. It also marked the first time that a South American team won the World Cup as Copa América champions.

18 December 2022 (2022-12-18) 18:00	Argentina	3–3	France	Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail Attendance: 88,966 Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
	Messi  23' (pen.), 108' Di María  36'	Report	Mbappé  80' (pen.), 81', 118' (pen.)
		Penalties
	Messi Dybala Paredes Montiel	4–2	Mbappé Coman Tchouaméni Kolo Muani

Awards

The following World Cup awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament. The Golden Boot (top scorer), Golden Ball (best overall player) and Golden Glove (best goalkeeper) awards were all sponsored by Adidas.

Golden Ball	Silver Ball	Bronze Ball
Lionel Messi	Kylian Mbappé	Luka Modrić
Golden Boot	Silver Boot	Bronze Boot
Kylian Mbappé (8 goals, 2 assists)	Lionel Messi (7 goals, 3 assists)	Olivier Giroud (4 goals, 0 assists, 464 minutes)
Golden Glove
Emiliano Martínez
FIFA Young Player Award
Enzo Fernández
FIFA Fair Play Trophy
England

Statistics

Further information: 2022 FIFA World Cup statistics

Goalscorers

8 goals

• Kylian Mbappé

7 goals

• Lionel Messi

4 goals

• Julián Álvarez
• Olivier Giroud

3 goals

• Richarlison
• Enner Valencia
• Marcus Rashford
• Bukayo Saka
• Cody Gakpo
• Gonçalo Ramos
• Álvaro Morata

2 goals

• Neymar
• Vincent Aboubakar
• Andrej Kramarić
• Harry Kane
• Niclas Füllkrug
• Kai Havertz
• Mohammed Kudus
• Mehdi Taremi
• Ritsu Dōan
• Youssef En-Nesyri
• Wout Weghorst
• Robert Lewandowski
• Bruno Fernandes
• Rafael Leão
• Salem Al-Dawsari
• Aleksandar Mitrović
• Cho Gue-sung
• Ferran Torres
• Breel Embolo
• Giorgian de Arrascaeta

1 goal

• Ángel Di María
• Enzo Fernández
• Alexis Mac Allister
• Nahuel Molina
• Mitchell Duke
• Craig Goodwin
• Mathew Leckie
• Michy Batshuayi
• Casemiro
• Lucas Paquetá
• Vinícius Júnior
• Jean-Charles Castelletto
• Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting
• Alphonso Davies
• Keysher Fuller
• Yeltsin Tejeda
• Juan Pablo Vargas
• Joško Gvardiol
• Marko Livaja
• Lovro Majer
• Mislav Oršić
• Ivan Perišić
• Bruno Petković
• Andreas Christensen
• Moisés Caicedo
• Jude Bellingham
• Phil Foden
• Jack Grealish
• Jordan Henderson
• Raheem Sterling
• Théo Hernandez
• Randal Kolo Muani
• Adrien Rabiot
• Aurélien Tchouaméni
• Serge Gnabry
• İlkay Gündoğan
• André Ayew
• Osman Bukari
• Mohammed Salisu
• Rouzbeh Cheshmi
• Ramin Rezaeian
• Takuma Asano
• Daizen Maeda
• Ao Tanaka
• Luis Chávez
• Henry Martín
• Zakaria Aboukhlal
• Achraf Dari
• Romain Saïss
• Hakim Ziyech
• Daley Blind
• Memphis Depay
• Denzel Dumfries
• Frenkie de Jong
• Davy Klaassen
• Piotr Zieliński
• João Félix
• Raphaël Guerreiro
• Ricardo Horta
• Pepe
• Cristiano Ronaldo
• Mohammed Muntari
• Saleh Al-Shehri
• Boulaye Dia
• Famara Diédhiou
• Bamba Dieng
• Kalidou Koulibaly
• Ismaïla Sarr
• Sergej Milinković-Savić
• Strahinja Pavlović
• Dušan Vlahović
• Hwang Hee-chan
• Kim Young-gwon
• Paik Seung-ho
• Marco Asensio
• Gavi
• Dani Olmo
• Carlos Soler
• Manuel Akanji
• Remo Freuler
• Xherdan Shaqiri
• Wahbi Khazri
• Christian Pulisic
• Timothy Weah
• Haji Wright
• Gareth Bale

1 own goal

• Enzo Fernández (against Australia)
• Nayef Aguerd (against Canada)

Discipline

Player/Official	Offence(s)	Suspension(s)
Wayne Hennessey	in Group B vs Iran (matchday 2; 25 November)	Group B vs England (matchday 3; 29 November)
Alireza Jahanbakhsh	in Group B vs England (matchday 1; 21 November) in Group B vs Wales (matchday 2; 25 November)	Group B vs United States (matchday 3; 29 November)
Sebas Méndez	in Group A vs Qatar (matchday 1; 20 November) in Group A vs Netherlands (matchday 2; 25 November)	Group A vs Senegal (matchday 3; 29 November)
Abdulellah Al-Malki	in Group C vs Argentina (matchday 1; 22 November) in Group C vs Poland (matchday 2; 26 November)	Group C vs Mexico (matchday 3; 30 November)
Francisco Calvo	in Group E vs Spain (matchday 1; 23 November) in Group E vs Japan (matchday 2; 27 November)	Group E vs Germany (matchday 3; 1 December)
Amadou Onana	in Group F vs Canada (matchday 1; 23 November) in Group F vs Morocco (matchday 2; 27 November)	Group F vs Croatia (matchday 3; 1 December)
Paulo Bento (manager)	in Group H vs Ghana (matchday 2; 28 November)	Group H vs Portugal (matchday 3; 2 December)
Idrissa Gueye	in Group A vs Netherlands (matchday 1; 21 November) in Group A vs Ecuador (matchday 3; 29 November)	Round of 16 vs England (4 December)
Ko Itakura	in Group E vs Costa Rica (matchday 2; 27 November) in Group E vs Spain (matchday 3; 1 December)	Round of 16 vs Croatia (5 December)
Vincent Aboubakar	in Group G vs Brazil (matchday 3; 2 December)	Suspension served outside tournament
Marcos Acuña	in Group C vs Poland (matchday 3; 30 November) in Quarter-finals vs Netherlands (9 December)	Semi-finals vs Croatia (13 December)
Gonzalo Montiel	in Group C vs Mexico (matchday 2; 26 November) in Quarter-finals vs Netherlands (9 December)	Semi-finals vs Croatia (13 December)
Denzel Dumfries	in Quarter-finals vs Argentina (9 December)	Suspension served outside tournament
Walid Cheddira	in Quarter-finals vs Portugal (10 December)	Semi-finals vs France (14 December)
Mario Mandžukić (assistant manager)	in Semi-finals vs Argentina (13 December)	Third place play-off vs Morocco (17 December)

Marketing

Branding

The tournament logo was unveiled on 3 September 2019. The official unveiling took place in Doha, at 20:22 local time, with thousands of spectators witnessing the synchronised projection of the emblem onto a number of the country’s most iconic buildings, including Burj Doha, Katara Cultural Village Amphitheatre, Ministry of Interior, Souq Waqif and Msheireb and Al Zubarah Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The emblem’s design embodies the vision of an event that connects and engages the entire world, while also featuring striking elements of local and regional Arab culture and allusions to the beautiful game. The swooping curves of the emblem represent the undulations of desert dunes and the unbroken loop depicts both the number eight – a reminder of the eight astonishing stadiums that will host matches – and the infinity symbol, reflecting the interconnected nature of the event. Besides echoing the shape of the iconic FIFA World Cup Trophy, the emblem’s central form takes inspiration from a traditional woollen shawl.

Broadcasting rights

• Australia – SBS
• Brazil – Rede Globo
• Canada – CTV, TSN, RDS
• Caribbean – International Media Content, SportsMax
• Europe – European Broadcasting Union (37 countries)
• Indonesia - Emtek Group (SCTV, Indosiar, Moji, Mentari TV, Nex Parabola, Vidio & Champions TV, RRI (Radio)
• Middle East – Al Jazeera, beIN Sports
• Portugal - RTP
• Sweden – SVT, TV4
• Switzerland – SRG SSR
• United States – Fox, Telemundo

Trivia

• Qatar is the first country in history to host FIFA and also lose their opening game.

See also

• 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup
• 2022 FIFA World Cup Match Schedule
• 2022 World Cup Sticker Album

External links

• FIFA.com 2022 website

2022 FIFA World Cup Referees

AFC

Abdulrahman Al-Jassim · Chris Beath · Alireza Faghani · Ma Ning · Mohammed Abdulla · Yoshimi Yamashita

CAF

Bakary Gassama · Mustapha Ghorbal · Victor Gomes · Salima Mukansanga · Maguette N'Diaye · Janny Sikazwe

CONCACAF

Iván Barton · Ismail Elfath · Mario Escobar · Said Martínez · César Arturo Ramos

CONMEBOL

Raphael Claus · Andrés Matonte · Kevin Ortega · Fernando Rapallini · Wilton Sampaio · Facundo Tello · Jesús Valenzuela

OFC

Matthew Conger

UEFA

Stéphanie Frappart · István Kovács · Danny Makkelie · Szymon Marciniak · Antonio Mateu Lahoz · Michael Oliver · Daniele Orsato · Daniel Siebert · Anthony Taylor · Clément Turpin · Slavko Vinčić