The moment when the world of football holds its breath: the draw for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar this Friday (4:00 p.m. GMT), in which the favorites, such as France, Spain, Brazil or Argentina, await a clear path between the skyscrapers of Doha .

Eight months before the World Cup (November 21-December 18), the small emirate will be the focus of attention while its future competition will take its definitive profile, with the expected distribution of teams in the different groups.

Will it be able to outshine, at least during the time of the ceremony, the many non-sports controversies surrounding the tournament? There have been several since Qatar was awarded the World Cup in 2010, from the issue of respect for human rights in the country, to the recent exclusion of Russia from the qualifying phase after the invasion of Ukraine.

“We want it to be a party, a celebration of football, with positivity, with the whole world meeting here in Qatar, where the infrastructures are spectacular,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino this Friday from Doha at the opening of the annual Congress. from CONMEBOL.

Meanwhile, the time for the draw draws near, from the Doha Congress Center (DECC), a showcase dreamed of in prime-time by the Qatari authorities and the culmination of their “sports diplomacy” policy.

“There will be many surprises. The draw for the competition will be different from the previous ones, from another level,” promised Yasir Al Jamal, one of those responsible for the organizing committee of the World Cup-2022, who will unveil the tournament’s mascot on Friday.

“Our pet will be particular and different from the others. Each person will see it with a different look,” he launched enigmatically.

From Tokyo to Buenos Aires, from Ottawa to Dakar, the fans of the 29 nations already qualified (3 remaining) will especially have their eyes on the famous balls divided into four pots, according to prestige and decreasing sporting level.

For Qatar, the host country that will play its first World Cup, for France, current world champion, and for the other six best nations in the FIFA ranking (England, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Spain, Portugal), being gathered in the first pot He assures them not to see each other’s faces at least until the second round.

But, in pot 2, there are several dangerous traps: the reborn Germany of coach Hansi Flick, the Netherlands of Virgil Van Dijk, the two-time champion Uruguay with Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani, or the Croatia of Modric, current runner-up in the world.

Europe, with its 13 representatives, is the only confederation that can field more than one team in each group.

Neymar’s Brazil, Lionel Messi’s Argentina, Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, Kevin De Bruyne’s Belgium, Luis Enrique’s Spain… The football stars will undoubtedly follow the tournament, along with other big names to avoid in Pot 3, like Senegal, champion of Africa, or Robert Lewandowski’s Poland.

An unusual event for this great quadrennial liturgy, three participants who must decide in the playoffs will not see their names in pot 4.

In June, two tickets will be allocated to a match in Qatar: Peru will face the winner of the Asian playoff United Arab Emirates-Australia, and Costa Rica will face New Zealand.

Finally, it remains to be determined who, between Wales or the winner of the Scotland-Ukraine duel, a match postponed due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, will achieve the last European ticket.

On the Doha Corniche, the flags of the last classified so far were raised the last few days next to the clock that marks the countdown, which on Friday will be 233 days before the start of the competition.

‘The journey’ (‘Al-Rihla’), that is the name of the tournament ball, a predominantly white sphere with red and blue lines adorned with gold, which was unveiled on Wednesday, and which FIFA assures will perform “the fastest trajectories ever recorded”.

Around that ball will be the eyes of the 1.2 million visitors expected in the first World Cup organized in an Arab country, which will however lack great names in football, such as the European champion Italy, Mohamed’s Egypt Salah, Riyad Mahrez’s Algeria or Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Sweden.

More than 800,000 tickets have already been purchased in the first sales phase between January 19 and February 8, FIFA announced.

17 million were requested but there will be just over 3 million available (two for sale and one reserved for FIFA and its sponsors). The next phase of sale will open on April 5.

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