Each of the 32 participating teams will have until Friday to submit their preliminary selection of World Cup players to begin the process of finalizing their teams for the tournament in Qatar.
All teams are required to submit a list of minimum 35 and maximum 55 players on Friday as per FIFA rules.
Additionally, the final team must be selected from a qualifying list and players cannot be changed for three weeks.
Qualifiers are not published by FIFA, but teams have the option to disclose their selections.
It is the first time since the Russian tournament and previous editions that the World Cup qualifier list has been expanded to 55.
Called the World Cup of Firsts, this year’s squad will debut with 26 members instead of the usual 23 due to injuries and the timing of the tournament kicking off during some football leagues.
A few days before the World Cup, on November 14, FIFA will require all teams to report their World Cup rosters.
Qatar confidence
Meanwhile, the host nation on Monday said it was ready to host the FIFA World Cup in just over a month.
World Cup CEO Nasser Al-Hatel, who attended the “one month to go” press conference, applauded the team’s efforts and everyone involved.
“Qatar is ready to host a global celebration of beautiful games,” he said.
“We look forward to seeing fans and players around the world experience our warm hospitality, wide variety of entertainment options and, of course, top-class international football.
“This will be a one-of-a-kind FIFA World Cup competition that will have a lasting and positive impact on Qatar, the Middle East and the Arab world,” said Al-Hater.
“We look forward to hosting a tournament that will be remembered by fans around the world for a long time,” said Yasir Al Jamal, Executive Director of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC).
Qatar’s next World Cup will host a total of 74 pitches, including the team’s training grounds and the country’s eight stadiums.
“Of course, pitches are at the top of our priority list, both at training sites and across stadiums. In total, there are 74 pitches that make up this World Cup, eight in stadiums, each with two training sites. A base camp has 32 pitches and a base camp has a referee,” FIFA’s Smith said.
All stadiums have artificial lighting that compensates for the natural light lost by shade from the roofs and is maintained by over 700 groundskeepers.
Qatar is building eight stadiums to host the World Cup, all of which have been tested in major events over the past two years.
Most recently, the iconic Lusail Stadium was put on trial for the Lusail Super Cup, which will feature Egypt’s Zamalek and Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli.
The stadium has been completed, but final construction projects around the country, such as road construction in the capital Doha, have yet to be completed in a race against time.
