POSTCARD

Champion of the world

The opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 at the Al Bayt Stadium marked a historic point for the region – it was the first time an Arab country hosted the mega event. The show was narrated by Morgan Freeman and featured Jung Kook from BTS, as well as Qatari stars including Ghanim Al Muftah and Fahad Al Kubaisi. The eight-part opening ceremony concluded with giant jerseys of the 32 participating nations and every mascot in FIFA World Cup history taking to the field.

At the time of going to press, this year’s World Cup has already thrown up several major upsets – Saudi Arabia defeated South American giant Argentina 2-1 (a win that resulted in a public holiday in the kingdom the following day), Japan pulled off a 2-1 victory in their opening match against Germany, and Spain defeated Costa Rica in a hard-tobelieve 7-0 scorecard at the time of the final whistle bringing back memories of the Brazil-Germany match at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Come December 18, a new world football champion will be crowned.