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The original plan was for the opening ceremony to be held before
Qatar's first game on Nov. 21, which would have created the
unusual situation of two matches - Senegal v Netherlands and
England v Iran - being held before the ceremony.
Normally, the ceremony is conducted before the kick-off of the
first game of the tournament.
Hosts Qatar will now make their World Cup debut against Ecuador
at 1900 local time after an opening ceremony at the
60,000-capacity Al Bayt Stadium.
The change is in line with the long-standing tradition of
opening matches involving hosts or holders.
The Group A match between Senegal and Netherlands, originally
scheduled to be the tournament opener, has been pushed back by
six hours from 1300 local time on Nov. 21 to the 1900 slot
vacated by Qatar v Ecuador.
England's Group B match with Iran and the United States' opener
against Wales, which are also scheduled for Nov. 21, remain
unaffected by the change.
The plan has been signed off by a committee comprising of the
heads of FIFA's six regional confederations and president Gianni
Infantino.
"The decision followed an assessment of the competition and
operational implications, as well as a thorough consultation
process and an agreement with key stakeholders and the host
country," FIFA said.
The change stretches the World Cup to 29 days until the Dec. 18
final and comes after several rounds of ticket sales, with
organisers having sold 1.8 million tickets so far.
"Ticket holders will be duly notified by email that the relevant
matches have been rescheduled and their tickets will remain
valid irrespective of the new date/time," FIFA added.
"In addition, FIFA will seek to address any issues arising from
this change in a case-by-case basis."
It will be the first World Cup staged in the Middle East and has
been pushed back to later in the year than its typical June-July
schedule to avoid the region's punishing summer heat.
The Lusail Stadium, which will host the final, staged its first
competitive match earlier on Thursday, with Al Arabi beating Al
Rayyan in Qatar's top division.
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Hyderabad; editing by Jonathan
Oatis and Ken Ferris)
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