Sports fans won’t miss a single game from Qatar 2022
April 5, 2022
World Cup 2022 will be played in Qatar between 21 November and 18 December, and football fans in the United Kingdom won’t miss a single match thanks to a historic deal between the UK government and FIFA. Every game will be shown on free-to-air television and will also be available online using your desktop computer or smartphone app. That means you can watch the play from the comfort of your own home or when on the move using an Android or iOS smartphone.
This is great news for supporters who will make their predictions on the outright winner of the World Cup and their favourite games at the sportsbooks listed at MyTopSportsbooks. Matches from World Cup 2022 will be broadcast live on BBC, and ITV, with the fixtures, split evenly between both channels. 32 teams make up the running for this year’s tournament, with eight venues from five host cities used. The live coverage on BBC and ITV has never been as important as it is this year due to the host nation.
Host nation kick off the party
World Cup 2022 will be staged entirely in Qatar, making it the first to be held in the Arab World. It will also be the first not to be played during the summer months. The reason for the later than usual start to World Cup 2022 is the searing heat experienced in Qatar during June and July. With games played in Qatar between November and December, at a time when many football fans will be thinking of the expense of Christmas, it’s likely we’ll see fewer football fans from Great Britain than normal attending the matches.
The first match will see the host nation, Qatar, take on Ecuador at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor in Group A as the curtain goes up on a festival of football. That game can be added to your diary on 21 November, with game two played later that day in Doha as Senegal plays Group A favourites the Netherlands. England will also play a part in the opening day of the World Cup with Gareth Southgate’s men facing Iran in Al Rayyan.
The Three Lions are expected to progress to the knockout stages with the top two sides in the pool going through. As it stands, England and Iran share a group with the United States and the winner of a yet to be decided playoff between Scotland, Ukraine and Wales. England are one of the teams hotly fancied by pundits to win the trophy outright following their near-miss at Wembley last summer when losing in the final of Euro 2020 to Italy. Other nations expected to perform well are Brazil, France and Argentina.
Join the party
Unlike at previous versions of the FIFA World Cup, every right holder has a duty to screen live coverage of the event for both their television and online customers. The World Cup is already the most-watched sporting event in the world, but the increased coverage at Qatar 2022 means we will see record-breaking viewing figures.
This is especially true of smartphone users, with huge numbers expected to watch matches on their handsets. The quality of coverage available on your mobile is better than we’ve seen in the past. Watch the big match live when on the move, at work, out for lunch or anywhere. All you need to view is available data or a reliable Wi-Fi connection.
So, what can we expect from BBC’s coverage of World Cup 2022? Every match, including the semi-finals and the final will be shown on BBC One, BBC Two or BBC online. There will also be previews, in-depth analysis after each match, updated stats and an evening highlights show. The latter allows armchair fans to catch up with the goals and talking points of the matches from every day. Highlights and re-runs will also be available on-demand on the BBC iPlayer app.
Just like Southgate’s team, the BBC and ITV punditry team hasn’t been decided yet, but viewers can expect some familiar faces, including Ian Wright, Alan Shearer and Ally McCoist. Former Glasgow Rangers striker and Golden Boot winner McCoist hopes to see Scotland in attendance, but Steve Clarke’s men must come through a delayed playoff with Ukraine before facing Wales in the final.