Why is the World Cup start date changing again?
The Athletic FC Podcast
The Athletic
4.0 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 10 August 2022
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Mark Chapman is joined by The Athletic's Matt Slater & Joey D’Urso to discuss the news that FIFA is set to move the start date of the World Cup one day earlier so that host nation Qatar can play the first match.
The panel discuss why the decision is only being take now, the current state of preparations for the World Cup in Qatar and also what the fan experience might be like for supporters given the countries' human rights record.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Athletic. |
| 0:03.4 | Well, at the time of recording this podcast, |
| 0:05.5 | there was meant to be 102 days to go |
| 0:07.6 | till the World Cup in Qatar. |
| 0:09.9 | Turns out it's actually 101. |
| 0:12.1 | Joining us to explain what an earth is going on, |
| 0:14.6 | Matt Slater and Joey Dursa. |
| 0:16.8 | I'm Mark Chapman, and this is the Athletic Football Podcast. |
| 0:29.8 | Music I'm Mark Chapman, and this is the Athletic Football Podcast. The 22 FIFA World Cup is Qatar. |
| 0:58.9 | The 22. is Qatar. Dreams do come true. Now, are you ready to count down the days? Well, Matt, let's go straight to you on this breaking news today. |
| 1:03.1 | FIFA set to move the start date of the World Cup one day earlier. |
| 1:08.6 | What's going on? |
| 1:09.5 | Well, left a bit, right a bit. |
| 1:12.0 | They've already moved it six months. |
| 1:14.1 | Well, we're just, I think they're happy now. |
| 1:16.2 | I think 100 odd days to go. |
| 1:18.8 | Yeah, the World Cup was supposed to start on November 21st. |
| 1:24.2 | Four games. |
| 1:26.1 | And the actual first game was going to be confusingly match number two in group A. |
| 1:32.5 | Netherlands versus Senegal and then England versus Iran was going in the afternoon and then we were going to get I suppose what the host wanted, the big game, their game against Ecuador in the evening. |
| 1:50.3 | That would be the third game played. |
| 1:52.2 | Now, they've actually had a little think about it and thought, hold on a minute. |
... |
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