BTS' Jungkook, Morgan Freeman light up Al Bayt
Doha: Qatar welcomed football fans and stars from across the world in a glittering opening ceremony at the Al Bayt Stadium on November 20.
South Korean band BTS' Jungkook and legendary American actor Morgan Freeman entertained the fans as Qatar became the first Middle East country to host football's biggest tournament.
The World Cup is a source of immense national pride for Qatar in its attempt to raise its profile on the global stage and drive toward modernisation.
Qatar has never before appeared in a World Cup and faces a major challenge just to emerge from Group A, which also includes Senegal and the Netherlands. South Africa in 2010 is the only host nation to fail to get beyond the Group stage, so to avoid sharing that distinction would be success in itself.
Sunday may be Qatar's best hope for a victory against an Ecuador team that is only five places above it at No. 44 in the FIFA rankings.
The first World Cup match between Qatar and Ecuador will happen without any beer for sale in the stadium.
The beer ban imposed two days before the start of the tournament was the latest controversial snag for a global event already under scrutiny for Qatar's human rights record and the Emirates' frantic push to ready the nation for the most compact World Cup in history.
Two of the best players in the world were ruled out of the tournament with injuries before it even began.
France striker Karim Benzema, the Ballon d'Or winner, is out after hurting his left thigh during training on Saturday. Senegal forward Sadio Mane, runner-up to Benzema in voting for world player of the year, is out with a leg injury he picked up last week while playing for Bayern Mu-nich.
Previously, France midfielders Paul Pogba and N'Golo Kante were ruled out, as was Germany striker Timo Werner. Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku and South Korea captain Son Heung-min arrived in Qatar with lingering injuries.
Awarding the World Cup to Qatar has been a financial boon to FIFA as the governing body of soccer said it earned record revenues of $7.5 billion in the four years of commercial deals tied to this year's tournament.
The money haul is $1 billion more than income from the previous commercial cycle of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The ex-tra money this year was boosted by local sponsorship deals, including Qatar Energy, which joined as a top-tier sponsor. Qatari bank QNB and telecoms firm Ooredoo are also sponsors.
New to the sponsorship packages this year is crypto.com, the first new American sponsor in more than a decade.
The United States returns to the World Cup after missing the 2018 tournament in Russia and opens play on Monday against Gareth Bale-led Wales. Bale has been playing for Los Angeles FC and helped them win the MLS Cup earlier this month.
The United States has one of the youngest squads in the 32-team tournament. Three of the Americans Gio Reyna, Joe Scally and Yusuf Musah were only 11 years old the last time the national team played a World Cup match.
DeAndre Yedlin, a 29-year-old defender, is the only holdover from the American team eliminated by Belgium in the second round eight years ago. Yedlin, Christian Pulisic, Kellyn Acosta and Tim Ream are the only four players who were on the squad when it failed to qualify for Russia.
