The 2022 sports calendar reflects the intention of the international federations to resume the routine after the changes of dates that the pandemic forced in the previous two years, although any apparent normality is blown up when it is found that the World Cup, the star event of the year , will be held in November in Qatar.
The great experiment of the FIFA -for now, until the biennial World Cup is approved- it will alter leagues, calls, vacations and qualifying tournaments in soccer from all over the planet, to lead to a pre-Christmas tournament from November 21 to December 18, unusual dates for a World Cup .
Other competitions are also joining the Experiments Club in 2022. Starting with the Winter Olympic Games, which will be played for the first time in a city that has already hosted the Summer Games, Beijing.
What was in 2008 swimming stadium, the imposing ‘Water Cube’ of the Chinese capital, will become ‘Ice Cube’ to host the competitions of curling. This is just one example of the adaptability of Beijing facilities: where there was gymnastics there will be ice hockey, where the archers competed, the speed skaters will compete, where the volleyball is played, the figure skaters will do their tricks.
Meanwhile, the Soccer World Cup will bring together 32 teams that will play 64 games, spread over eight air-conditioned stadiums and separated by a maximum of 58 km.
In June, the usual month of World Cup disputes, temperatures in Qatar range between 41.2 and 27.7 degrees, while in November they will be in a range between 29.5 and 19.5, less dangerous for players and the public.
France will defend the title won in Russia 2018, an edition in which Europe captured an unquestionable supremacy, with 10 of the 16 eighth-finalists and the four semi-finalists places. The Brazilian and Argentine teams, already qualified, will lead the roster of American teams that will try to bring the Cup to their continent for the first time since 2002, when Canarinha won their fifth title.
The draw for the final phase will take place on March 31.
The November World Cup will not be the only foreign body in the footballing body in 2022. On June 1, the teams of Italy and Argentina will contest the one baptized as ‘Finalissima’, a match in London between the European champions and Conmebol, which will coincide with the opening of an office of the South American entity in the city of the Thames. Rumor has it that it could be the first step of a Euro America Cup, with four teams starting in 2025.
In women’s football, the new year will host the Eurocup in England and the Copa América in Colombia, both in June and with the Netherlands and Brazil as respective defenders. Spain is classified for the European appointment.
Another sports
The new formula that the Davis Cup will try next year should also be described as experimental, which continues to search for the right key to attract tennis players and spectators in the last weeks of the season. The year begins without knowing where the four groups in which the teams of the final phase will now be divided will be played, nor the “ only venue that will host from the quarters onwards. Russia won in 2021.
Another test that had an acceptable result in 2018, the simultaneous European championships of various sports, will return to the fray in 2022 with athletics, beach volleyball, canoeing, cycling, gymnastics, rowing, climbing, table tennis and triathlon meeting in Munich from 11 to 21 August.
Next year includes in its calendar world championships of swimming in May in Fukuoka (Japan) and athletics in July in Eugene (USA), the first of a very short Olympic cycle that will conclude in 2024 in Paris.
Also plays in September women’s basketball world cupor, with the qualifying groups in February.
If the successive waves of coronavirus do not decide otherwise, 2022 will be a year rich in regional and continental games. In July, the Mediterranean Games in Oran (Algeria), the World Games (non-Olympic disciplines) in Birmingham, USA and the Commonwealth Games in the other Birmingham, the English; in September, the Asian Games in Hangzhou (China); in October, South Americans in Asunción.
The usual circuit of the great professional sports is exciting, after the first titles of Max Verstappen in Formula 1 and Fabio Quartaro in MotoGP and the Milwaukee Bucks NBA ring, the first in 50 years.
Also after the consolidation in the number 1 of the golf ranking of Jon Rahm and in the 2 of the ATP of Daniil Medvedev or, also in tennis and with Spanish protagonism, the victory of Garbiñe Muguruza in the WTA finals and the irruption in the elite by Paula Badosa and Carlos Alcaraz.
Meanwhile, it is expected the comeback on the slopes of Reef Nadal, Roger Federer Y Serena Williams after long absences due to injury, in the case of the Majorcan with an extension due to the coronavirus.
Nadal, Federer and number one Novak Djokovic start the year empatados a 20 Grand Slams and it is practically impossible for them to end it in the same situation. The first mystery of the year is whether the Serbian, who has not revealed whether or not he is vaccinated against covid-19, will play the Australian Open in January.
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