FIFA Moves Up World Cup Start Date To Accommodate Qatar

For the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Qatar, the controversies continue.

At the last minute, FIFA has moved the commencement date of the tournament up one day, according to The Athletic. 

Qatar wants its home team to play the first match, as is tradition — though the schedule was previously set to have the Netherlands and Senegal playing first. The World Cup will now start on November 20, with Qatar playing Ecuador.

The timing of the entire World Cup, of course, is already unorthodox — it will be played in the winter as opposed to summer due to the harsh local climate.

The host nation has also been heavily criticized for its alleged human rights violations. Workers who built infrastructure for the tournament were reportedly not only underpaid, but put in extremely unsafe working conditions.

Human rights groups like Amnesty International have demanded that Qatar compensate workers for these alleged abuses.