DOHA — The
World Cup’s start will be brought
forward by a day to allow hosts Qatar to play the opening game, sources told
AFP on Wednesday, just over three months before the competition gets underway.
اضافة اعلان
Qatar will now play
Ecuador on November 20,
24 hours earlier than planned, in a move that FIFA’s ruling council was
expected to confirm soon, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.
The change will see the tournament, which
was switched to November–December to avoid the Gulf country’s searing summer
heat, keep to its tradition of the hosts playing the opening match.
Senegal and the Netherlands had been
scheduled to play the first game on November 21, followed by England against
Iran and then the official inauguration match, Qatar’s World Cup debut, that
evening.
“There were discussions and agreement
between the two respective teams and there was a request from CONMEBOL — the
South American confederation,” one World Cup source told AFP, speaking on
condition of anonymity as no official decision has been announced.
“We wanted to follow the tradition that
either the reigning champions or the host country be involved in the opening
match,” the source added.
FIFA and the Qatari organizing committee
declined to comment on the change to the mega event that ends on December 18.
But another tournament source said action
would be taken to help fans with tickets for the November 21 game.
“Any disruption will be dealt with so the
impact is minimal,” the source told AFP.
Under the change,
Netherlands vs Senegal in
Group A would be moved from 1pm (1000 GMT) on November 21 to a 7pm start. “It
is a better slot for both teams for television and other areas,” said the World
Cup source.
England’s Group B match against Iran is not
changed.
100-day
countdown
Companies
with major deals linked to the World Cup expressed confidence that the unusual
schedule change could be handled smoothly.
“It is something we will deal with,” said
Jaime Byrom, chairman of Match Hospitality, which has a deal with FIFA to
organize hospitality packages for World Cup matches and has locked in 450,000
tickets for the tournament.
“It is really not — compared to the other
challenges that we could have faced or have faced in the past — a particularly
large problem,” Byrom told AFP.
“We have to focus on those customers who are
most affected and I guess in this case we will be looking at our Ecuadorian
customers who are traveling from overseas, and making sure that they are on
time for the match.”
The opening match is scheduled to be held at
the 60,000-capacity Al-Bayt stadium, one of seven new venues purpose-built for
the tournament since Qatar was controversially awarded the World Cup in 2010.
The wealthy Gulf state is preparing a
spectacular opening ceremony in the stadium, whose structure was inspired by
traditional Arab tents.
Moving forward the opening match will also mean changing
the 100-day countdown that had been scheduled to start on Saturday, with
special events across the tiny nation of 2.8 million people.
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