New Delhi: The drawing ceremony for the World Cup “Qatar 2022” took place in the Qatari capital, Doha, within a ceremony held in the presence of senior sports and official figures, led by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of the State.
The ceremony began at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center with the unveiling of the World Cup mascot, which bore the name “Laib”, then the audience listened to the song “Haya”, which will be one of the official songs of the World Cup.
Gianni Infantino, President of the International Football Association, welcomed the attendees and expressed his great happiness with the imminent launch of the World Cup in Qatar, which he described as “the most beautiful and best version.”
In turn, Prince Tamim promised to “present an exceptional World Cup,” and added, “I feel proud and happy from now until the moment the world will see that we are in Qatar.”
The process of drawing the lottery was preceded by dividing the qualified teams into four levels according to the FIFA classification, before the International Federation revealed the details of the draw procedure, as the teams were distributed into eight groups, so that no two teams from the same continental union participate in one group, with the exception of Europe represented Thirteen teams.
The draw resulted in strong groups, in which Qatar, the host of the tournament, came in the first group, along with the Netherlands, Senegal and Ecuador, while France, the defending champion, fell in the fourth group with Tunisia and Denmark, and one of the qualifiers from the playoffs.
Saudi Arabia was drawn in Group C, which also includes Argentina, Mexico and Poland, while Morocco is in Group F along with Belgium, Canada and Croatia.
In the most prominent matches of the first round of the 2022 World Cup, Spain will meet Germany in Group E, which also includes Japan, and the winner of the match against Costa Rica and New Zealand in the playoffs.
Brazil, which has won the most World Cup titles (5 times), came in Group G with Serbia, Switzerland and Cameroon.
The second group included England, Iran, the United States and the winner of the play-offs Wales and Ukraine/Scotland, while Portugal signed with Ghana, Uruguay and South Korea in Group H.
The FIFA World Cup will begin on November 21, 2022, in a major sporting event to be held for the first time in the Arab region and the Middle East, and the second in Asia, after the World Cup in South Korea and Japan, which was held in 2002.​​
