The World Cup is just a step away from beginning as national teams who have qualified have found their way to Qatar.
The Arabic country, Qatar will host the competition for the first time ever as it also becomes the first Middle Eastern country to host to tournament.
The host, Qatar will open the competition playing against Ecuador at the Al Bayt Stadium tomorrow at 5pm West African time.
What to know about Qatar and the World Cup.
Qatar national football team has never qualified for any single FIFA World Cup since the country’s independence at 1971. While Qatar has been a regular participant in the continental AFC Asian Cup, the national side has always fallen short in the final stage of World Cup campaigns. By hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup and its failure to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup held in Russia, Qatar became the only nation to play in World Cup without qualifying for it.
Former FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, awarded the hosting rights of 2022 World Cup for Qatar, which has brough so much controversies around him and the decision, thus angered many people for awarding a country with no competitive World Cup history nor even with football culture.
Outside the problem of lacking football culture, Qatar is also facing criticisms over workers’ terrible conditions in the country, time schedule and money bribery to host the edition, which is denied by Qatar.
Has the Ecuador team played in the World cup before?
The Ecuadorian national football team has appeared at three FIFA World Cups, the world’s premier football tournament for national football teams, with an upcoming fourth appearance in 2022. Ecuador’s first participation in the World Cup was in 2002. Their best performance was in 2006, where they were eliminated in the Round of 16.
From 1930 to 1938, Ecuador did not enter to qualify in the FIFA World Cup. Ecuador first entered to the World Cup qualifiers for the 1950 tournament, but withdrew from qualification. Ecuador did not enter for the 1954 and 1958 tournaments. From 1962 to 1998, Ecuador failed to qualify for the world’s premier football tournament. They earned their first qualification in 2002 after finishing 2nd in South America. The qualification for the second tournament in 2006 was achieved after finishing 3rd in South America. For the 2010 tournament, Ecuador finished 6th in South America and failed to qualify for a third successive World Cup finals. Ecuador then managed to return to 2014 edition before once again got eliminated from 2018 edition.
Note
The host, Qatar appearing in their first FIFA World cup not by qualifying but through their hosting right will face Ecuador that has the experience in the tournament as it will be tough for the Arabic country in the opener as odds to win their first game is against them.
