The Lusail Stadium, which will have the largest capacity of all those that will be used during Qatar 2022, already knows the two most important dates for its history: December 18 and the match that will mark its inauguration.
The upcoming FIFA World Cup promised to shock the world into believing that bringing this legendary tournament to the Middle East was not a mistake. One of the banners to achieve this was to promise majestic stadiums. Of all the 8 stadiums that will be used for this tournament, the Lusail Stadium is the most imposing, due, among other things, to its capacity of 80,000 spectators.
It is a tradition that the stadium with the greatest impact, attraction and tradition of the host country in which the FIFA World Cup is held will be the venue for the match that will trigger the greatest emotion of the tournament, the Grand Final. The champion of Qatar 2022 will be known there, on December 18, but which match will inaugurate it?
The opportunity that escaped Lionel Messi and the Argentina National Team
It seemed like a fairy tale, worthy of a FIFA World Cup. Not only was the Lusail Stadium to host the Qatar 2022 Final, but it was to be inaugurated, apparently, by the Group C match between Lionel Messi’s Argentina and Saudi Arabia on November 22.
It is no small feat for one of the greatest players in the history of soccer, Messi, to be in charge of leading one of the teams inaugurating a stadium. And to some extent, the first World Cup match the Lusail Stadium will hold will involve Lionel and Argentina,but the very first match it will host will not even be part of the 64 matches of the upcoming World Cup.
A view of Lusail Stadium’s pitch. (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Qatar gives and Qatar takes away: the match that will inaugurate the Lusail Stadium
The Qatari organizing committee was able to imagine and realize venues of the magnitude of the Lusail Stadium. However, another entity of the same nationality was in charge of taking away Lionel Messi and Argentina’s opportunity to inaugurate the stadium, as it was made official that a Qatar Stars League match will be the first in the history of this venue.
The big date on which the Lusail Stadium will lose its new aroma is August 11, 2022, and those in charge of having that honor are the clubs Al Arabi and Al Rayyan, in a match corresponding to Week 2 of the Qatari league. Thus, the big stars that will parade in this game belong to Al Rayyan: the Colombian James Rodriguez and the French Stephen Nzonzi, who won the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018.
An aerial view of Lusail Stadium. (David Ramos/Getty Images)
