FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Interesting Facts and Controversies

The FIFA World Cup 2022 was the 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup, which featured competition between the men’s national teams of FIFA’s member countries. It was the second World Cup staged fully in Asia after the 2002 competition in South Korea and Japan, and it was held in Qatar from November 20, 2022, to December 18, 2022. It was the first World Cup to be held in the Arab and Muslim worlds. After defeating Croatia 4-2 in the championship game of 2018, France was the reigning champion.

FIFA World Cup 2022: Highlights

After a 3-3 stalemate after extra time, Argentina defeated France in the championship match, winning 4-2 on penalties to claim the trophy.
Argentina won its third championship, their first since 1986, and became the first country from South America to take home the trophy since 2002.
The French player Kylian Mbappé earned the Golden Boot for scoring the most goals (8) throughout the FIFA World Cup 2022 competition, becoming the first player since Geoff Hurst in the 1966 World Cup final to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final.
Lionel Messi, the captain of Argentina, was selected as the competition’s top player and awarded the Golden Ball.
The Golden Glove, given to the competition’s top goalkeeper, and the Young Player Award, given to the competition’s top young player, went to Emiliano Martnez and Enzo Fernandez, respectively.
With 172 goals scored, the event broke the previous record for most goals scored in a 32 team format.

Teams in FIFA World Cup 2022

The number of teams competing grew to 48 for the 2026 edition, making this event the last with 32 teams. The event was conducted in November and December to escape the scorching climate of Qatar. It took place during a condensed 29-day period, with 64 matches being played at eight locations spread across five cities. As the host nation, Qatar automatically qualified for the competition—their first World Cup—along with 31 other teams chosen through the qualification procedure.

FIFA World Cup 2022 Unknown Facts

Here are some interesting Facts about the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022:

The prize money for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup was at a record $440 million.
The 32-team FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2022 was the final edition of the tournament. It was decided to raise the number of competitors to 48 national teams beginning in 2026.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup’s logo was a ribbon that both resembles sand dunes and stands for infinity and harmony. The ribbon featured embellishments from the Arabic culture.
Kylian Mbappe was the World Cup 2022 player who was the most expensive, according to the online marketplace Transfermarkt. His market worth was €160 million at the time of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
Youssoufa Moukoko, a player for Germany, was born on November 20, 2004, making him the youngest participant in the next World Cup. He was 18 years old on the day the 2022 World Cup began.
For the first time in the tournament’s history, the Qatari national team competed in the championship round. Due to Qatar serving as the host nation, the team was automatically qualified for the 2022 World Cup.
Only spectators who have had a coronavirus vaccination were permitted to watch FIFA World Cup 2022 games.
Analysts started utilizing contemporary improvements prior to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. The likelihood of the teams winning the qualifying competition had already been calculated using a supercomputer. Robots with artificial intelligence (AI) have also been employed to anticipate the match’s exact score.
The highest ticket price in the competition was €48,802.
Women referees were refereeing football games for the first time in history: Stephanie Frappart (France), Yoshimi Yamashita (Japan), and Salima Mukansanga (Rwanda) were the female refrees.

FIFA World Cup 2022 Controversies

Dramatic upsets, a fiercely competitive group stage, an enhanced worldwide presence in the knockout stages, and excellent individual performances, highlighted by France’s rising sensation Kylian Mbappe and Argentina’s great Lionel Messi, were all features of the event. Since Qatar was selected by FIFA to host the 2022 World Cup, non-sporting controversy has dogged the event. In addition to allegations of bribery against FIFA officials, doubts were expressed over the suitability of having the World Cup held in a small country with no infrastructure or history in sport.

The decision to host the game in Qatar was complicated further by the country’s scorching summers, which made holding the event during its typical June–July period unfeasible. This forced the transfer to November–December, which upset the regular schedules of European football associations.

Here are some controversial moments from the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar:

To team captains who wear One Love armbands in support of LGBTQ+ rights, FIFA has threatened to issue yellow cards.
German team protested the human rights abuses by the Qatari regime by covering their mouths in the team photo before the game.

After Morocco defeated Belgium, some Moroccan supporters rioted in Belgium.
In their dressing area, Serbian athletes displayed a map of their country that showed Kosovo along with the phrase “No Surrender.” In 2008, Kosovo proclaimed its independence from Serbia.
After the U.S. Soccer Federation posted an image of the Iranian flag on social media without the Islamic Republic insignia, Iranian state officials demanded that the United States be disqualified from the competition.
Iranian supporters who supported the administration and others who supported the demonstration clashed.
Israeli media outlets tried to interview fans, but they declined.
Teams and supporters raised the Palestinian flag.
When Serbia played Switzerland, who had players of Albanian heritage, tensions grew both on the field and in the fans.

FIFA World Cup 2022 Controversies: Martinez vs Mbappe

Mbappe scored a hat-trick in the championship match, becoming the first person to do so since Sir Geoff Hurst in 1966. He also remained composed during the penalty shootout, which Martinez’s outstanding play and contentious gamesmanship ultimately decided.

The 24-year-old thereafter became an unusual target for Argentina’s players, and Martinez in particular, during Argentina’s wild post-match celebrations, for whom the Golden Boot offered little solace. Martinez provoked more controversy by clutching a doll covered in an image of PSG star Kylian Mbappe during an open-top bus procession in Buenos Aires, where he was seen asking for a minute of quiet for the player.Mbappe responded to this trolling from Martinez by saying that:

“They are not my problem. I don’t have energy to waste on such futile things. I’ll never digest it. But like I told my coach and teammates, there’s no reason that my club should pay for a defeat with my national team, it’s two different situations.”

FIFA World Cup 2022 Controversies: France wants to replay the Final

Some French fans are calling for a rerun of France’s defeat to Argentina in the World Cup final in Qatar after it did not go well for them. Over 200,000 people have signed a petition calling for a rerun of the World Cup final on an online platform. After Argentina won the World Cup on Sunday, one of their defences is that “There was never a penalty + foul on Mbappe for the second goal.”

The France supporters are referencing both the alleged foul on Kylian Mbappé at the outset of the move that resulted in Argentina’s second goal as well as the foul on Angel Di Mara that Ousmane Dembélé allegedly committed that led to the first goal.
The petition is already in the top 20 on MesOpinions, the campaign’s platform, with over 200,000 signatures.
If it received more than 500,000 signatures, it would rank among the top three.
Through the comments posted on the petition’s website, where there are complaints about the refereeing and charges that the Argentinians are “cheats,” the petition’s signatories have shown their outrage.

Argentina’s Response to French Petition

It didn’t take long for the supporters of the Argentine national team to respond. An initiative to address the French was begun by the Argentine Twitter account Valentin Gomez. Gomez wrote,

“If the French are collecting signatures for a replay of the World Cup final, I propose that we take advantage of the moment of unity of the Argentines and collect signatures so that the French stop crying and also win the World Cup of signatures.”

The Argentine petition received over 30,000 signatures in just a few hours. Social media was flooded with comments claiming that Argentina should have won.

Has Kylian Mbappe asked PSG to release Neymar Jr. post FIFA World Cup 2022?

Kylian Mbappe, a striker for Paris Saint-Germain, is said to have set three requirements for the club to meet if they want him to stay. Before the following season, there were rumours that he might leave the team and go with Real Madrid.

Until the 2024–2025 season, the French megastar is currently under contract with Paris Saint Germain. There were rumours, though, that he was dissatisfied with the circumstances at the club and wanted to consider his options. He has set some challenging requirements in front of the League 1 giants