The 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup will begin in Qatar on Nov. 20 with the host nation taking on Ecuador at the Al Bayt Stadium, the farthest venue from central Doha.Defending champions France kick off their campaign against Australia two days later, while bookmakers' favourites Brazil will begin their quest for a record-extending sixth title against Serbia on Nov.
24.The following are the eight groups in the tournament.GROUP A: Qatar (hosts), 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.The group stage will be a round-robin format with each of the 32 teams playing three matches.
Teams will get three points for a win and one for a draw. The top two teams in each group will advance to the last 16.The first knockout round kicks off on Dec.
3 and will be followed by the quarter-finals from Dec. 9 and the semi-finals from Dec. 13.The knockout rounds will feature one-off matches, which can go to extra time and then penalties to decide the winner.The third-place playoff between the two losing semi-finalists take places on Dec.