Qatar World Cup – the highlight of 2022

Every four years, there is one major event that brings the entire world together to sit down and celebrate whether that is with family, friends or even total strangers – as long as you’re a fan of football the world cup instantly becomes a bonding session during the season.

Just like every world cup season, 2022 also brought some highs and lows and some unexpected turns. Football fan or not, this year everyone gathered around to predict and bet on their favourite teams, eagerly waiting to see what unexpected turns this world cup season would bring. And just like any other year, or even a bit more than other years, the 2022 world cup brought about some major twists and turns as teams played some of their most competitive games by far.

This year’s game was hosted in Qatar, marking the first time a world cup match was hosted in a Muslim-majority country. This was a big moment for Qatar, and let’s just say they did not disappoint the world - as everything from the stadium to the beautiful messages they sent throughout this season touched everyone’s hearts.

Aside from the beautifully constructed arenas and all that Qatar had to offer, the matches of 2022 were also exceptionally entertaining and engaging. A BBC sport survey shows that the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022 was voted as the ‘best world cup this century’, making this year a major success. This survey result probably does not come as a shock to anyone who watched all the matches, or anyone who has not been living under a rock as world cup news was circulating all over the internet and it was hard to miss the wins and keep up with the excitement whether you knew football or not.

This year’s world cup was a win for more than just Qatar as a few teams took home groundbreaking wins, despite not winning the final title. One of the moments that captures everyone’s attention, taking the whole world by surprise was the game by Morocco. After playing an intense match, Morocco officially broke a record by becoming the first African and Arab team to go into the semi-finals, marking a major moment in history. This win by Morocco was celebrated all around the globe, as this year’s team definitely showed the world that they are more than capable of playing a good game, coming so close to taking home the world cup.

In addition to this, this year also marked one of the best final matches ever played as France and Argentina put on a fight till the very end. In the very final game, the intensity was hiked up a notch as the scores remained competitive till the very end as the game was extended into penalties where Argentina officially scored 3-2 against France and won the world cup. This was a major win for many, as Lionel Messi, along with thousands of his fans had been waiting for this win throughout his entire career– making this win one of the major moments of glory for millions of football fans.

In addition to these amazing plays and efforts showcased by every single country that played in the world cup, the 2022 games also opened up a major opportunity for Qatar to showcase the reality of the Arab world. Everything the country did from starting the world cup with a beautiful recital of the Quran to letting fans from all over the world discovers the beautiful messages of Islam was appreciated by Muslims from all around the globe.

While many are still talking about the amazing games and the well-deserved winner of this year’s world cup, everyone is also eagerly anticipating the arrival of the world cup which is to be hosted in 2026. While the exact dates have not been finalised for the next year’s world cup, it has been revealed that the games will be co-hosted by the U.S.A., Canada and Mexico.

How will the three countries co-host these games? Well, it appears that we are headed for another new thing in football as this will be the first time that three countries co-host the same games and so far the plan is to host 60 matches in 11 locations across the USA and 10 matches each in Canada and Mexico.

While we still have four more years to prepare for the next world cup games, this year has definitely left everyone way more excited than ever to see what the 2026 games will bring as the playing field has been completely changed by countries this year. And for those who gained an interest in football this year, the four years will also give them time to explore different teams and gain more knowledge before the next world cup games to support the best teams and enjoy the games in a new light!