The official FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, which got underway on November 20th, 2022, and ended on December 18th, was the 22nd edition of the World Cup, which saw 32 teams from five confederations battle it out.
Argentina beat France 4-2 in a penalty shootout in the final, plus there were lots of other exciting moments. Could last year’s event go down in history as one of the best world cup tournaments? Find out more right here.
Facts about the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar
Here are some of the most interesting facts from Qatar’s 2022 FIFA World Cup.
- Argentina is one of the World Cup’s best ever teams, having won on three separate occasions (1978, 1986, and 2022)
- Kylian Mbappe was the tournament’s highest goal scorer with 8 goals (Golden Boot Winner), and Lionel Messi was the second highest goal scorer with 7 (Silver Boot Winner)
- A total of five players (Antoine Griezmann, Bruno Fernandez, Harry Kane, Ivan Perisic, and Lionel Messi) all manage to get three assists each throughout the tournament
- The two players with the joint-most yellow cards (3) were Argentina’s Marcos Acuna and Gonzalo Montiel
- A total of four players received red cards, including the Netherlands’ Denzel Dumfries, Cameroon’s Vincent Aboubakar, Morocco’s Walid Cheddira, and Wales’s Wayne Hennessey
- Qatar was the first-ever host nation to lose the opening game when Ecuador netted two goals from Enner Valencia to beat them 2-0
- Underdogs Japan faced two of the toughest opponents and were placed in Group E with Spain, Germany, and Costa Rica. They managed to top the group, which also saw Germany crashing out in the group stage
- Other shock teams that went out in the group stages were Mexico, Belgium, Cameroon, and Uruguay
- A total of 172 goals were scored at the World Cup in Qatar (a new all-time record)
- There were five penalty shootouts (more than at any other World Cup in the tournament’s history)
- Depending on which betting site you went to, Argentina or Brazil were the odds-on favourite teams to win at the start of the tournament. Argentina lost their opening game 2-1 to Saudi Arabia (the only team ever to lose their opening game and go on to win the World Cup)
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More interesting facts about the FIFA 202 World Cup in Qatar
Here are some other interesting facts about what is regarded by many as the best FIFA World Cup in recent memory and by others as the best-ever FIFA World Cup. Many also labelled it as the most controversial World Cup for reasons we won’t expand upon here.
The Team of the Tournament featured the following players: Livakovic (Croatia) in goal, Hernandez (France), Marquinhos (Brazil), Gvardiol (Croatia), and Hakimi (Morocco) in defence, Tchouameni (France), Griezmann (France), and Fernandes (Portugal) in midfield, and Alvarez (Argentina), Mbappe (France), and Messi (Argentina) upfront.
Kylian Mbappe is only the second-ever player to score a hat-trick (3 goals in the same match) in a World Cup final. The only other player to achieve this feat was England’s Geoff Hurst in 1966.
Mbappe was also only the fifth player to score two goals in two separate World Cup finals. He also did this in Russia in 2018. The player to have played in the most World Cup matches ever is Lionel Messi (26), and he is also the only player to score in each stage of the tournament (e.g., group stage, round of 16, quarter/semi, and final). Lionel Messi is also the first player to win the best player of the tournament award (Golden Ball) at two different World Cups.
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