Official: First Ever Winter World Cup To Kick Off In Qatar On November 21, 2022

The world football governing body, FIFA have confirmed that the first Winter world cup staging in Qatar in 2022 will kick off on Monday, November 21, and round off on Sunday, December 18 the same year.

This information was released by the FIFA's executive committee, after reaching an agreement to close the once-in-four years competition on Qatar's national holiday.

In March, FIFA finally decided to switch the 2022 tournament from June-July to avoid Qatar's summer heat.

A 28-day World Cup is four fewer than usual and is designed to cause less disruption to clubs and leagues that must shut down for several peak midseason weeks.

The implication of this is that football league season must start earlier than august, which has been the kickoff period for most European league seasons, while FIFA has mandated clubs to release players for the tournament on or before November 14, 2022.

 No international match dates -- either qualifiers for continental championships or friendlies -- have been set for October 2022. Instead, the two fixtures typically scheduled in October will be moved forward four months.

That creates a four-match program for international teams, scheduled between May 30 and June 14, 2022, at the end of the European season.

In a minor switch, the September doubleheader of international matches will be pushed back two weeks to start on Sept. 20, 2022.