Everybody is now familiar with the name of Ukraine and is much aware of what is happening in Ukraine. During this continued Ukraine-Russian war, everybody is quite able to predict Ukraine’s position in the FIFA World Cup Qatar. Ukraine has been active in sports in past years but now the war that’s going on between it and Russia seems to make it a little difficult for them to keep the spirit. Ukraine is a European country who usually competes in the qualification matches as a member of UEFA. And this time it called out on its misfortune.
Is Ukraine in the World Cup?
Just like we mentioned, 32 qualified teams for the FIFA World Cup Qatar have been determined and Ukraine doesn’t show up in the list. Out of 32 slots, 13 were available for Europe which were occupied by Germany, Denmark, France, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, England, Switzerland, Netherlands, Portugal, Poland and Wales. Ukraine didn’t qualify for the World Cup 2022 as you can see that it’s nowhere in the list. It was qualified in 2006 for the last time and since then it hasn’t qualified a single world cup.
In 2006, Ukraine appeared in the FIFA World Cup and reached the quarter finals. Since its detachment from the Soviet Union in 1991, they officially played a World Cup for the first time. It had played in the World Cups in 1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970 as well but at that time it was a part of the Soviet Union. And since the Soviet Union disintegration in 1991, it has qualified for the world cup once only. That was the 2006 World Cup in which Ukraine was a part of Group H which included Spain, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. Ukraine and Spain made it to the knockout stage.
Ukraine: Bid to host 2030 World Cup
Though the European nation is facing the Russian war and financial crisis, it didn’t miss out the opportunity to take part in the FIFA World Cup in any way. The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) announced on Wednesday that Ukraine has joined their bid to host the World Cup 2030.
Now You might ask what is the bid to host a World Cup and what is its advantage. So, jumping directly to the answer, hosting a World Cup can advantage a country in several ways. First of all, it automatically allows them to play in the tournament as an individual competitor. Apart from that, it provides the nation with an authority and recognition that makes it more popular in the World. In financial terms, it benefits them with a lot of investments and funds.
Ukraine joins the Spain and Portugal’s bid to host World Cup 2030
As the Spanish and Portuguese Football Federation announced a few days before the World Cup 2022, Ukraine has joined Spain and Portugal’s bid to host the tournament. RFEF presidente Luis Rubiales said in a conference held in UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland that their bid is not an Iberian bid anymore, it’s a European Bid now.
Rubiales further said, “I’m convinced that now our bid is much better than before. Football is universal, and if it is capable of changing the life of people in so many ways, it should also be used for doing good,”.
Bids to host a World Cup begin years before the end scheduled tournament. Therefore, Europe is not alone in this race. Partnership Bid of Spain, Portugal and Ukraine ensures Europe’s support for the 2030 football tournament and is competing with other partnership bids such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Greece as well as South American bids from Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Chile.
Who will host the 2026 World Cup?
The 2022 World Cup is going to take place from November 20 to December 18. And Qatar has got the right to host the tournament this time after an endeavour of over 8 years. Just like that, many countries have started opting for the right to host the FIFA World Cup 2030 including Ukraine. The host of the 2026 FIFA World Cup has also been determined. The United States, Canada and Mexico will be hosting this 2026 edition of football’s highest level competition.
As four days are left for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar to start, controversies around the competition are splitting. Around a month earlier, Paris said that it will not organise fan zones for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Elaborating the reasons for this statement, Paris’ deputy Sport Mayor claimed, “firstly because of the environmental and social conditions regarding the event and this is not the model that we wish to promote for major events in Paris”.
Paris made one thing clear that it is not the boycott of the event or the Qatari regime. Pierre Rabadan, Paris’s deputy Sport Mayor stated, “It doesn’t mean that we are calling for a boycott of the event”.
Another controversy revolves around Qatar’s victorious bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Since this event took place in 2010, over 6,500 migrant workers have died in the country according to a report by the Guardian. The authors and surveyors alleged that most of these workers were involved in low-wage labor, dangerous and life-risking activities often done in extremely heated areas. Though Guardian doesn’t show a direct relation of these 6,500 deaths and the infrastructure of 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, it has been speculated that some of them were involved in construction of World Cup projects. These projects majorly include the stadiums that were built keeping a special purpose of the World Cup in mind.
Stadiums
Everybody knows that the FIFA World Cup 2022 is going to be held in Qatar but not everyone knows in which stadiums they have to mark their attendance in order to watch their favorite teams and players playing football on the international level. The tournament will go on for around a month and a total of 64 matches will be played across eight different venues. The stadiums are as follows:
- Al Bayt Stadium
- Khalifa International Stadium
- Al Thumama Stadium
- Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium
- Lusail Stadium
- Stadium 974
- Education City Stadium
- Al Janoub Stadium
Qatar World Cup Fixtures
The Qatar World Cup is scheduled to be played from November 20 to December December 18. The tournament is divided into two phases – group phase and knockout phase. The group phase will run from November 20 to December 2 where the above mentioned groups will compete with each other. On the other hand, the knockout phase will run from December 2 to 18. On December 18, the finale of the tournament will take place which is also a special day for the hosting Country. It’s Qatar National Day on December 18.
A Glimpse of FIFA World Cup History
Football is undoubtedly the most popular and watched sport in the world. The World Cup is likely the biggest sporting event in the world. This is a quadrennial tournament of men which determines the sport’s world champion. This was first organised in 1930 by Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and Uruguay emerged as the winner. Similar to this, a competitive sport event that is organised for women national teams is the women’s World Cup. Billions of people watch both of the tournaments every time.
Since 1930, the FIFA World Cup has been held every four years except during World War 2nd. The competition consists of many tournament sections leading to the finals made up of 32 teams only. In contrast to any other game of competition, there is no age restriction or amateurism criteria for players in the World Cup. The worldwide significance of the FIFA World Cup is irreplaceable.
