By – Lt Col D Purushothaman Pillay (Retd)
The latest chapter of the “Greatest Show On Earth” the most eagerly awaited 22nd edition of the quadrennial global carnival – The FIFA World Cup Finals, will be hosted for the first time in the Middle East in the magnificent and enchanting State of Qatar, from Sunday, 20 November 2022 to Sunday, 18th December 2022.
There are a few unique and interesting facts about the Qatar FIFA World Cup worth highlighting. It will be the first world cup that will be held in the winter months of November and December. All the previous world cups since inception were held between May and July of their respective years. It will also be the first one to be hosted by any Arab Country and only the second occasion when this event is hosted in Asia. Qatar will be the smallest nation both in terms of area and population to host the world cup and will also get the distinction of being the first host country to never have played in any World Cup before. This world cup is set to become the shortest ever as it will start and conclude in 28 days, where 64 matches will be played and a World Champion identified. These matches will be hosted in 8 stadiums which will be the least number of stadiums ever used for a 32-nation world cup. Another unique aspect is that all these stadiums are located within a radius of 60 odd kilometres and timewise a mere 90 minutes apart from the two most distant ones, thereby making it the most compact world cup. This will be the first world cup where the teams will not have to constantly travel between cities and matches, as they will all be lodged permanently in one location for the whole duration of the tournament.
Here is a brief summary of some interesting facts that were compiled with my inquisitive Aquarian curiosity, in order to unravel the many subtleties of the event and fathom the staggering statistics to help us enjoy the competition even better. A total of 211 national teams were involved in 865 matches in a protracted COVID-affected three-year-long qualification process that started on 6 June 2019 and ended on 14 Jun 2022, to finally select 32 teams for Qatar. Apart from Qatar who auto-qualify as the hosts, Germany was the first team to qualify on 11 Oct 2021 and Costa Rica was the last team to qualify on 14 June 2022.
I will break down the 32 teams according to the affiliated football continental zones they belong to. There are a total of 13 European-UEFA ( 1. Belgium, 2. France, 3. England, 4. Spain, 5. Netherlands, 6. Portugal, 7. Denmark, 8. Germany, 9. Croatia, 10. Switzerland, 11. Wales, 12. Serbia, & 13. Poland ), 4 South American-CONMEBOL ( 1. Brazil, 2. Argentina, 3. Uruguay, & 4. Ecuador ), 5 African-CAF ( 1. Senegal, 2. Morocco, 3. Tunisia, 4. Cameroon & 5. Ghana ), 5 Asian-AFC ( 1. Iran, 2. Japan, 3. South Korea, 4. Qatar (Hosts) & 5. Saudi Arabia ), 4 Central American-CONCACAF ( 1. Mexico, 2. USA, 3. Canada & 4. Costa Rica ) and 1 Oceanic-OFC ( 1. Australia ) countries in this distinguished total of 32 national teams.
Just for the record 9 out of the ‘Top-10’ national teams have made it to the Qatar World Cup finals. The only exception is the perennial favourites and four times world champions, currently ranked 6th – Italy. When we include the ‘Top-20’, we see that 18 out of the top 20 football teams have made it to Qatar. The 17th-ranked Columbia is the only other team, besides Italy that is in the top 20, that could not qualify. Besides these two, other popular teams like Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Mali, and Ivory Coast missed the bus from Africa. Sweden, Hungary, Greece, Austria, Romania, Ireland, and Scotland are some conspicuous absentees from Europe. The likes of Chile, Paraguay, Venezuela, and Bolivia are not there from South America. Turkey, Iraq, UAE, China, and New Zealand are some of the other notable teams who also sadly could not make it this time. Brazil with the current No 1 FIFA ranking is obviously the highest-ranked team, and Ghana with a ranking of 61 is the lowest-ranked team of the 32 who qualified for the Qatar World Cup. Qatar is the only new team which is making its World Cup debut in the 2022 edition.
Some other interesting trivia about qualifications is that Brazil is the only country to have qualified for all 22 World Cups, the other countries who make up the ‘Top 5’ in qualifications are 2. Germany 20 times, 3. Argentina/Italy (Not Qualified) 18, 4. Mexico 17 & 5. England/Spain/France have all qualified 16 times. Wales is making a reappearance in the world cups after 64 long years, as they had last qualified in 1958, Canada is also making a comeback to the world cups after 36 years, as they had last qualified in 1986.
The FIFA World Cup is 92 years old now. The first World Cup with 13 invited teams was held in 1930 in Uruguay, which incidentally was won by the hosts themselves. Subsequent expansion and remodelling of the qualification formats settled on sending 32 national teams to the World Cup finals, from France – 1998 onwards. (Just a quick update, this number is set to change to 48 teams from the 2026 World Cup.) The 32 teams in the current World Cup are further divided into 8 groups of 4 teams each, the teams in the group will play each other in a round-robin, which will decide on the top two teams, who will then proceed to the knock-out rounds. Of the 200+ teams in FIFA to date, a total of only 81 national teams have made at least one appearance in a FIFA World Cup finals.
Statistically speaking, Brazil and Germany in their 21 and 19 appearances respectively, have played the maximum number of World Cup games totalling 109, but Brazil has scored the maximum number of 229 goals so far. In terms of wins, Brazil has 73 wins as against 67 by Germany, even on the points earned Brazil has the edge of 237 to 221 over Germany. To put things in better perspective and show how these two top teams are heads and shoulders above the rest, let us examine the numbers for the third and fourth-placed teams in this list, which includes Italy in the third place, having played 83 winning only 45 games after scoring 128 goals in their 18 appearances in finals, followed by Argentina in the fourth place having played 81 winning 43 games scoring 137 goals in their 17 appearances.
In the 92-year history of FIFA World Cups, the 21 editions of this competition have thrown up only 8 different winners. 6 of these 8 countries have won it more than one time and 2 have won it only a single time. Leading the winners is Brazil with 5 wins followed by Germany and Italy 4 times each, Uruguay, Argentina, and France have won this competition 2 times each. England and Spain are the countries that have won only 1 time each. This competition has been dominated by European and Latin American teams, no Asian or African team has ever won this cup. In the continental stakes, it was won 12 times by European teams and 9 times by South American teams.
Being in Qatar at the epicentre of the action one can sense the football fever moving into overdrive. Be it in the print, social or broadcast media there is a palpable energy in the buzz created. We have always seen reports of frenzied football fans waving national flags, chanting and singing on the streets all around the world when the matches are played. The wonder of this simple game is in its universal appeal, and this particular event has been a great unifier of the human race. The whole world follows the matches with passionate zeal. Billions of eyeballs are glued to the live action be it in the stadiums, on the television sets, in the fan zones, bars and restaurants, or in the comfort of one’s homes. Each and every single football enthusiast on the planet irrespective of their country of origin, select one team that they want to root for and desire to win. No wonder then that this event has such a global impact in terms of ardent viewership and fanatic fan-following. All over the world business grinds to a halt, and the streets remain deserted when the favourite teams are playing. Each world cup has its own defining moments for what it will be remembered for in later years, like for instance the Maradona ‘Hand Of God” goal from the 1986 cup, the many Schillaci goals for Italy in the 1990 cup, the Ronaldo seizure before 1998 final, and the Zinedine Zidane head-butting incident from the 2006 cup, to just name a few.
Personally, I have been a loyal fan of the Selecao or the Brazilian National Team, ever since I started following these cups 40 years ago in 1982 when Italy won the cup in Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid defeating Germany 3-1. The other world cups I have since been following have the following winners in Argentina (in Mexico)-86, Germany (in Italy)-90, Brazil (in the USA)-94, France (in France)-98, Brazil (in Japan)-2002, Italy (in Germany)-2006, Spain (in South Africa)-2010, Germany (in Brazil)-2014, and France (in Russia) 2018.
I am looking forward to witnessing some, fair and hard-fought competitive games with contrasting intercontinental styles executed with individual flair and brilliance at their best, showcasing skilful and exciting soccer. A few new-generation superstars are awaiting discovery, unknown records are waiting to be made, old histories will be rewritten, and many memorable moments gifted for eternity, in the 28 days of the football extravaganza. The inaugural clash on the 20th of November 2022 is between hosts Qatar (Ranked 50) and Ecuador (Ranked 44) and will culminate in the 18th of December 2022 summit clash, which will be between the two best teams in the soccer world currently. The stage is set and the 8 ultra-modern, centrally air-conditioned stadiums that are aesthetic architectural marvels are waiting for the soccer-crazy fans from all over the world to fill up the stands and witness some of the most memorable football they have ever seen.
All the best to all the 32 teams. As always I will be cheering for my favourite Brazilian team. Come on Brazil! I know in the end it will be that country which played smart to win their total of 7 matches which includes the 3 group games and 4 knock-out games, that will win the World Cup. May the best team win!!
All roads lead to Qatar, and soon all eyes of the world will be on this World Cup that promises to be the best one ever to be hosted in the history of the game. The biggest fan zone awaits everyone, and all lucky to come can “Expect Amazing” as Qatar is now all ready to welcome the lovers of football, as it rolls out the red carpet for all its guests for the grandest festival of football on the planet!
What A Wonderful World! 