DOHA, December 18. /TASS/. The reigning World Champions, France, are set to clash against Argentina tonight in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final, which is set to be held at the over 88,000-seat capacity Lusail Iconic Stadium in Qatar.
This is Argentina’s 2nd final appearance over the past three World Cups. The Argentinian team lost to Germany 1-0 in extra time in the final of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Argentina embarked on its tour in Qatar with an astonishing 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia in their first group stage match. However, the South American team later managed to defeat both Mexico and Poland by a score of 2-0, advancing to the knockout stage of the world championship.
In the playoff round, Argentina, led by Head Coach Lionel Scaloni, ousted Australia 2-1, edged the Netherlands 4-3 in a penalty shootout (2-2 in regulation time) and then breezed past Croatia 3-0.
France is appearing in the World Cup final for the second time in a row - in 2018, Didier Deschamps' team defeated Croatia 4-2 in the decisive match in Moscow at Luzhniki Stadium. France confidently started the championship’s group stage with a 4-1 win over Australia, followed by a 2-1 victory over Denmark, but then lost 1-0 to Tunisia. In the playoff round the French football squad was unstoppable, beating Poland 3-1, England 2-1 and Morocco 2-0.
Both France and Argentina are vying to become three-time winners of the FIFA World Cup on Sunday night as the Argentinians won the global world football championship in 1978 and 1986, while the French team hoisted the World Cup trophy in 1998 and 2018.
Brazil has won the most FIFA World Cups, taking home five titles (in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002). The Brazilian team is followed by Germany and Italy, which have won four World Cups each. Germany secured its FIFA World Cup wins in 1954, 1974, 1990, and 2014, while Italy was victorious in 1934, 1928, 1982 and 2006.
If France comes out on top in tonight’s match, they will become just the third country in history to win consecutive FIFA World Cups, matching Italy and Brazil as the only countries to accomplish this feat.
It will be the 4th encounter between France and Argentina at the FIFA World Cup. Argentina came out victorious in 1930 and 1978 (1-0; 2-1 respectively), while France defeated Argentina 4-3 in Russia’s Kazan at the 2018 World Cup in the round of 16.
2022 FIFA World Cup
FIFA President Gianni Infantino told a news conference on December 16 that the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is "the best ever."
"The FIFA Council met today [on December 16] in advance of the FIFA World Cup final in Doha, Qatar, which FIFA President Gianni Infantino hailed as the ‘best ever,’ following nearly a month during which ‘football reinforced its unique cohesive power by uniting the world in a spirit of peace and friendship,’ and adopted a number of key decisions for the future of football," FIFA’s press office said in a statement last Friday.
According to a report by CNN last Friday, FIFA declined a request from Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to air his statement before the final match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
"A request by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to share a message of world peace prior to kickoff at the World Cup final on Sunday has been rebuffed by FIFA," CNN revealed, citing an unnamed source. According to the CNN report, "The source said Zelensky’s office was offering to appear in a video link to fans in the stadium in Qatar ahead of the game and was surprised by the negative response."
In its official statement on November 4, FIFA called on all the participants of the 2022 World Cup to not mix the sport of football with politics.
Qatar is hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup between November 20 and December 18 at eight stadiums in five cities across the Persian Gulf country, namely in Doha, Lusail, Al Wakrah, Al Khor and Al Rayyan.
The eight host stadiums are: Al Bayt Stadium, Khalifa International Stadium, Al Thumama Stadium, Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Lusail Iconic Stadium, Stadium 974, Education City Stadium, and Al Janoub Stadium.
The coveted World Cup Trophy will be taken home by one of 32 teams divided into eight groups. The group stage matches are being held across numerous fields in Qatar between November 20 and December 2 with the top two teams from each group advancing to the playoffs.
Qatar won the right to host matches for the 2022 FIFA World Cup on December 2, 2010. The championship kicked off last Sunday with a spectacular ceremony and the subsequent opening match between host Qatar and Ecuador, which ended 2-0 in favor of Ecuador.
In March 2015, FIFA officially announced that the 22nd edition of FIFA’s flagship event would be played in November and December of 2022, with the final match set for December 18, 2022, coinciding with - Qatar National Day. The objective, in principle, was to hold the tournament over 28 days.
The previous FIFA World Cup was hosted by Russia in 2018. The championship took place at 12 stadiums in 11 cities across Russia, namely in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.
On July 15, 2018, during an official ceremony in the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin passed the baton for the FIFA World Cup’s host country to Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in the presence of FIFA President Gianni Infantino.