The eagerly unanticipated 2022 World Cup is here, and the first game is sure to be an absolute barnburner with hosts Qatar taking on the worst qualifier from South America, Ecuador. In fact, of the 32 teams at the World Cup, only Ghana and Saudi Arabia are ranked lower than these two in the FIFA rankings coming in to the tournament.

Let’s get hyped!

That doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be a bad game of course, especially if we just focus on the football as FIFA want everyone to do, and host nations do tend to have a habit of getting out of the groups and into the knockout rounds.

WHICH TEAM SHOULD I SUPPORT AT THE WORLD CUP?

We know that most of you already have a rooting interest in the World Cup. But that’s probably just habit. SB Nation have devised a quiz based on your style of sports fandom that will scientifically* decide which team you really should be rooting for. Take it here!

*no actual science was used

QATAR vs. ECUADOR

Date / Time: Sunday, November 2022, 16.00 GMT; 11am EST
Venue: Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor, Qatar
Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy)
On TV: BBC One (UK); Fox Sports 1, Telemundo (USA); elsewhere
Streaming online: BBC iPlayer (UK); FOX Sports Live, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo (USA)