Qatar under scrutiny again after video shows gaping hole outside FIFA World Cup stadium

Qatar has been in the news for all the wrong reasons ever since it was awarded the rights to host the FIFA World Cup. The biggest football event returns to the Asian sub-continent after a gap of 20 years but the cracks have already begun to show up. According to the latest inputs, a gaping hole was found outside the Lusail Iconic Stadium which is scheduled to host the finals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. 

2022 FIFA World Cup final stadium under scrutiny, here's why

According to a report by The Sun, the hole was found in a walkway just metres away from the 80,000-seater Lusail Stadium. The venue is all set to host ten matches with the first match not taking place until November 22 when Argentina face Saudi Arabia. Lusail stadium is situated 15 miles north of Doha and is both the largest and newest of the overall eight stadiums. The showpiece stadium has an estimated cost of around $767 million.

A look at the format and groups of the World Cup in Qatar 

For the very first time, the FIFA World Cup is scheduled to take place in the Middle East and only the second time in the Asian continent. The last time the biggest football event took place in Asia was in 2002 which was hosted by Korea and Japan. The Qatar 2022 event will witness a total of 32 teams fighting it out across group stages. The Qatar vs Ecuador match will be the opening match of the FIFA World Cup on November 20. 

Following the end of the group stage, only 16 out of the 32 participating teams will advance into the knockout stage, which is scheduled to be held between December 3 and 6. The quarter-finals are scheduled to take place on December 9 and 10, the semi-finals will be played on December 13 and 14. Meanwhile, the tournament will conclude with the FIFA World Cup final on December 18. 

A look at how groups of the 2022 FIFA World Cup look like:

• Group A: Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands
• Group B: England, Iran, United States, Wales
• Group C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland
• Group D: France, Australia, Denmark, Tunisia
• Group E: Spain, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan
• Group F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia
• Group G: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon
• Group H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea