sport news World Cup 2022: Match dates, groups, stadiums, odds, rules and everything to ... trends now

In December 2010, Qatar saw off competition from Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States to win the bid to host the 2022 World Cup, becoming the first-ever Middle Eastern nation to do so. 

Five years later, FIFA confirmed both that the tournament would, for the first time in its history, be moved to the winter to compensate for Qatar's searing heat and that the final would take place exactly a week before Christmas. 

Now, the qualification process - comprised of teams from six confederations - is largely complete, the official World Cup draw has come and gone and the tournament is swiftly approaching. 

Gareth Southgate's England will head into the competition with ambitions of ending 56 years of hurt, having reached the semi-finals at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, while falling agonisingly close as they were beaten on penalties by Italy at last year's European Championships. 

It's five-time winners Brazil who, despite losing out to Argentina at last year's Copa America, are currently the favourites, though, being FIFA's No 1 ranked nation.  

With the tournament - which runs from November 21 to December 18 - now approaching, Sportsmail gives you all the information you need. 

How does the tournament work? 

First, it's essential to outline exactly how the tournament will work. There will be a total of 32 teams competing, initially split into eight groups of four. 

The 32-team format - one that was introduced in 1998 - which will soon be abandoned, with a 48-team format to be introduced for the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States, Mexico And Canada.

Four games a day will be played during the group stages, which run from November 21 to December 2, with the top-two teams from each progressing into the knockouts. 

There will be no safety net of a best third-placed team to fall back on, as we saw at Euro 2020 last year. 

While Euro 2020 didn't have a third-place play-off, the World Cup in Qatar will, as has been the case in previous tournaments, with Belgium beating England 2-0 in Russia four years ago. 

The knockout stages, starting with the round of 16, will begin on December 3, running until December 6. 

The quarter-finals will then take place from December 9-10, before the semi-finals are played on December 13 and 14. 

The final of the 2022 World Cup will take place on Sunday, December 18.  

What are the groups?

The World Cup draw was completed in April, by which time 29 of the 32 spots were finalised. 

Two spots were always set to be determined after the draw, with the inter-confederation play-off to be completed this summer on June 13-14. 

Australia will come up against UAE, while Costa Rica go head-to-head with New Zealand, with the winners of each game progressing to the World Cup finals in Qatar.   

The European qualification process was halted due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, however, with the latter - alongside British duo Wales and Scotland - still vying for a place.  

Wales have already seen off their semi-final opponents in Austria, with Ukraine and Scotland to play on June 1 for the chance to compete against The Dragons in the final on June 5. 

Whoever emerges victorious from Wales, Scotland or Ukraine will join England in Group B, as well as Iran and the United States. 

One side joining from the inter-confederation play-off will join Group E - otherwise known as this year's 'Group of Death' - where they'll come up against Spain, Germany and Japan. 

The other will also face ferocious competition in France, Denmark and Tunisia.  

Though not the Group of Death, the most competitive quartet looks to be in Group H, which includes Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay and South Korea. 

Group A: Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands Group B: England, Iran, USA, Wales/Scotland/Ukraine Group C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland Group D: France, UAE/Australia/Peru, Denmark, Tunisia Group E: Spain, Costa Rica/New Zealand, Germany, Japan Group F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia Group G: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon Group H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea What venues are being used?

There will be just eight venues in use at this winter's World Cup, which is the fewest since the 16-team tournament at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. 

Each venue is situated within a 21-mile radius of central Doha, with a metro and tram system linking them all. In practice, this means fans will be able to travel to multiple matches in a day. 

The Lusail Stadium will be the showpiece venue for the tournament, hosting the opening fixture, the final and a number of key matches throughout. 

Interestingly, the stadia will all be powered by solar panel fans; they will also be equipped with detailed cooling systems to battle the heat, even though the tournament has been moved to the winter to compensate for this issue. Some of them will even have outdoor air-conditioning.  

Just one stadium will play home to a football team afterwards, however, with one dismantled altogether and the remaining six to have half their seats ripped up and sent to developing countries. 

Below is a full list of the venues: 

Lusail Stadium  Al Janoub Stadium  Al Bayt Stadium  Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium  Education City Stadium Al Thumama Stadium  Stadium 974  Khalifa International Stadium When are the matches taking place?

The World Cup will take place between November 21 and December 18 this year with a total of 32 teams - initially split into eight groups of four - competing for the grand prize.

The group stages will begin on November 21 and will run for 12 days, with four matches being played on each. 

The top two teams from each group will progress to the round of 16, with the stage ending on December 2.

The round of 16 will be played from December 3-6, the quarter-finals will take place from December 9-10 and the semi-finals will be played on December 13 and 14. 

The final of the 2022 World Cup will take place on Sunday, December 18. 

In terms of when the matches will kick-off, FIFA have already confirmed all the timings. 

The first two rounds of group stage matches will all kick off at either 1pm, 4pm, 7pm or 10pm local time, with the final round - and the knockout matches - all at either 6pm or 10pm. The final will kick-off at 6pm local time. 

As for the UK, the matches during the first two rounds of group stages will kick off at either 10am, 1pm, 4pm or 7pm, with both the final round and the knockout matches at either 3pm or 7pm. The final will be at 3pm.  

*full fixture list at the bottom of the page.  

What will happen to the Premier League? 

The Premier League schedule has been forced to adjust with this year's World Cup taking place in the midst of the domestic campaign.

The 2022-23 season will start a week earlier than it typically would, being August 6, and will end a week later than usual on May 28, 2023.

Matches will continue right up until the start of the tournament, with the last round of Premier League fixtures taking place on November 12-13, just over a week before the World Cup begins.

The World Cup comes to an end on December 18, and those who make the final will be called back into action just over a week later, with the season resuming on Boxing Day.

What do the odds say? 

It was England who came into Euro 2020 as the favourites, primarily due to the fact the majority of their games were played at Wembley Stadium. 

Gareth Southgate's side, after losing out to Italy in the final, now find themselves as third favourites to lift a second-ever World Cup, a first since 1966. 

Perhaps surprisingly, reigning champions France are only the second-favourites to win the tournament, though that might be due to the fact it's been 60 years since a nation last won back-to-back World Cups. 

That nation, somewhat ironically, was Brazil, who are the favourites to win a sixth trophy in their prolific history. 

Also in the mix are Spain, who will be determined to bounce back after underperforming in both 2014 and 2018, having won the tournament in 2010. 

As are European giants Germany, who could draw level with Brazil on five World Cup wins, alongside Argentina, whose most recent of two wins came in 1986. 

How to watch the matches 

All 64 matches will be available to watch on free-to-air television in the UK, with the matches split between ITV and BBC. 

The TV schedule has already been announced, outlined below, though only for the group stages, with the knockouts yet to be confirmed. 

Fans will be able to stream the matches via BBC iPlayer or ITV Hub. 

Sportsmail will also

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