How long will the World Cup last? Is it shorter than previous tournaments? -

The 2022 World Cup is already very different to any major international tournament that has come before it.

Being played in the winter, in the middle of the European season, it certainly has its issues (and that’s without mentioning all the off-field controversies).

As it has disrupted the regular season in the most popular leagues in world football, does that mean it will be shorter than it would be during the summer?

The Athletic is on hand to answer any questions you may have about the schedule of the Qatar-hosted World Cup.

How long will the 2022 World Cup last?

With the added pressure of having domestic campaigns to resume after Christmas, there was a lot of emphasis, in the planning, to condense the World Cup as much as possible.

That hardly eased fears over player welfare with FIFPRO warning that there could be damaging long-lasting impacts in the build-up to the tournament.

Just a week after the final round of fixtures in the Premier League, Ligue 1, the Bundesliga and Serie A, among other leagues, the 2022 World Cup will begin with the opening ceremony and Qatar’s opening game against Ecuador.

The first game — between Qatar and Ecuador — will be played at the Al Bayt Stadium (Photo: Mohammed Dabbous/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Over the following 12 days until Friday, December 2, 47 more group-stage matches will be played as teams find out whether or not they will be progressing to the knockouts.

The Round of 16 will begin just a day later on Saturday, December 3. Although, the teams that qualified first will play in the first knockout matches with the teams who qualified towards the end of the group stage not playing until later on, as you might have expected.

After four days of Round of 16 games, there will be a couple of days without matches before the two days that are occupied by quarter-finals.

A couple more days of no matches follow before each of the semi-finals are played on Tuesday, December 13 and then Wednesday, December 14.

With most of the other players and nations travelling home, the two teams who make it to the final will then have almost a week to prepare for the biggest game in football.

The final will be played on Sunday, December 18 with the — largely pointless — third-place play-off taking place the day before.

All in all, that means that 64 World Cup matches will be played across a period of 29 days — or four weeks and a day — between Sunday, November 20 and Sunday, December 18.

That feels like a very tight schedule given the sheer volume of matches and that brings me onto the next question…

How does that schedule compare to previous World Cups?

Using the World Cups in the 21st century for reference, the Qatar World Cup is shorter than previous tournaments but not by as much as you may have expected.

In the last couple of World Cups, in Russia four years ago and in Brazil in 2014, the tournament has been played across 32 days, a three-day extension on this year.

The 2018 World Cup was played over 32 days, compared to 29 days in Qatar (Photo: Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images)

Two of those days have been lost in the group stage as, in previous years, it would have been played over a period of a fortnight rather than 12 days. The other extra day was from a gap between the end of the group stage and the beginning of the knockouts which gave everyone a day to catch their breath and gather their thoughts.

Those two tournaments were a day longer than the three World Cups that preceded them as in South Africa (2010), Germany (2006) and South Korea (2002), the tournament was played across 31 days.

Like in 2018 and 2014, the group stage was played across a fortnight-long period but, like in Qatar this year, there was no gap between the end of the groups and the start of the knockouts.

21st-century World Cup schedules

Qatar 2022

Whole tournament: 20 November 2022 – 18 December 2022

Group stage: 20 November – 2 December

Knockout: 3 December – 18 December

Total days: 29

Russia 2018

Whole tournament: 14 June 2018 – 15 July 2018

Group stage: 14 June – 28 June

Knockout: 30 June – 15 July

Total days: 32

Brazil 2014

Whole tournament: 12 June 2014 – 13 July 2014

Group stage: 12 June – 26 June

Knockout: 28 June – 13 July

Total days: 32

South Africa 2010

Whole tournament: 11 June 2010 – 11 July 2010

Group stage: 11 June – 25 June

Knockout: 26 June – 11 July

Total days: 31

Germany 2006

Whole tournament: 9 June 2006 – 9 July 2006

Group stage: 9 June – 23 June

Knockout: 24 June – 9 July

Total days: 31

South Korea 2002

Whole tournament: 31 May 2002 – 30 June 2002

Group stage: 31 May – 14 June

Knockout: 15 June – 30 June

Total days: 31

What are the key dates for the 2022 World Cup?

First match – Qatar vs Ecuador: November 20
Group stage: November 20 – December 2
Round of 16: December 3 – December 6
Quarter-finals: December 9 & 10
Semi-finals: December 13 & 14
Third-place play-off: December 17

Final: December 18

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