Fans can binge on four televised games a day during Qatar World Cup group stage

Armchair fans will be able to binge watch four World Cup matches every day during the group stage of Qatar 2022.

The match schedule for the tournament released yesterday also kept open the possibility of supporters attending more than one game per day at an event in which all venues lie within a 40-mile radius.

Group-stage matches kick off at 10am, 1pm, 4pm, and 7pm UK time for the first eight days of the World Cup, which is likely to result in at least 12 hours of unbroken daily television coverage when pre- and post-match output is included.

Kick-off times for the final rounds of group games – which kick-off simultaneously – and knock-out matches will be at 3pm and 7pm.

Fixtures will not be assigned to particular venues until after the finals draw in March 2022 in order to choose optimal kick-off times to suit television audiences in different countries.

The entire group stage has been condensed into 12 days due to the tournament being four days shorter than the last two World Cups, which, in turn, was the result of it being moved from June and July to November and December to avoid the searing summer heat in Qatar.

The opening match will be played at the Al Bayt stadium in Al Khor on Monday, November 21, and will feature the host country. The final will be played a week before Christmas on Sunday, December 18, at the Lusail Stadium in Doha.

A start date has not yet been fixed for the European section of World Cup qualification due to the coronavirus crisis.

Meanwhile, a report to the UN Security Council has highlighted the continued existence of “structural racial discrimination against non-nationals” in Qatar’s construction sector.

Around two million migrant workers are involved in helping to build World Cup venues and other tournament-related infrastructure.

The local organisers, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, employ around four per cent of construction workers in the country and were commended by the report’s author on the measures and safeguards they had implemented in relation to timely and reliable payments and living conditions.

However, workers’ representatives still called for there to be non-discriminatory minimum wage protections and more liberal immigration rules.

The Supreme Committee were praised for their work on safety, but the remaining 96 per cent of the construction industry was deemed to have failed to reach the required standard, and the report called on the national government to take urgent action.

The UN’s special rapporteur for racism, Tendayi Achiume, who wrote the report, said a “de facto caste system” existed in the country “according to which European, North American, Australian and Arab nationalities systematically enjoy greater human rights protections than South Asian and sub-Saharan African nationalities”.

Fifa said in a statement: “Ms Achiume, who visited a stadium construction site in November 2019, characterises these measures as ‘impressive changes’ and ‘sweeping reforms’ implemented for Fifa World Cup workers and calls for these heightened standards to be expanded to benefit all workers in the country.

“Fifa supports that recommendation and is working with its partners to expand the systems developed for construction workers to other sectors directly linked to the FWC 2022 tournament as the preparation for the event advances.

“Fifa will continue to work with its partner the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy and other entities in Qatar and worldwide to further promote a positive human rights and environmental legacy of the event.

“These efforts include, besides the protection of workers’ rights, and innovative environmental solutions, a strong commitment to an inclusive tournament experience for all and a firm stance against discrimination of any kind.”