World Cup opening ceremony live: Updates, highlights, performers from Al Bayt Stadium as FIFA Qatar 2022 begins

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It’s the show before the show. The 2022 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony represents the unofficial kickoff of the anticipated tournament, with kickoff of the inaugural match following shortly after.

The Al Bayt Stadium in the city of Al Khor will be the stage for both the opening ceremony and the first game. The $850 million facility was built for the World Cup and opened in 2021, featuring a retractable roof.

A crowd of 60,000 is expected to take in the festivities ahead of watching the host nation play its first-ever World Cup match against Ecuador. Both teams will be competing in Group A with the Netherlands and Senegal.

The Sporting News will be following the opening ceremony live and sharing special moments, videos and images from the event.

MORE: Watch every World Cup match live with fuboTV (U.S.-only free trial)

World Cup opening ceremony live updates, highlights from Qatar

3hrs 15 mins from kickoff: When the festivities get underway in a little under two hours, the Al Bayt Stadium will be a riot of colour. The same can’t be said for the journey to the remote venue in the city of Al Khor, which is around 50 kilometres from the capital Doha.

3hrs 40 mins from kickoff: Our live blog for the opening match itself is also off and running and Qatar vs Ecuador is an intriguing matchup with plenty of unknowns. The hosts have been squirrelled away in a lengthy pre-tournament training camp and, as we saw on their run to a shock Asian Cup win in 2019, they play football “the right way” under Barcelona-reared coach Felix Sanchez.

Ecuador have once again made their way through the hard-knocks school of CONMEBOL qualification and, if a solid defence is the secret to a good tournament performance they should go far. Their past six results are as follows: 1-0, 0-0, 1-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0. Some goals would be nice, I guess.

LIVE BLOG: Qatar vs Ecuador live: World Cup score, highlights, result from 2022 Group A match

4hrs from kickoff: Qatar will get their campaign underway as the smallest nation in the tournament and the smallest country ever to host a World Cup.

This has proved a particular logistical challenge for organisers, with a vast building effort taking place over the past decade far beyond the eight stadiums. As the below video from the BBC shows, Qatar 2022 will provide a, ahem, unique fan experience for many.

4hrs 25 mins from kickoff: It’s tempting to suggest that instead of roping in the likes of Nicki Minaj, Robbie Williams and the Black Eyed Peas (just rumoured performers, to clarify. FIFA always keep these things under their hat until the last minute), organisers might have been better off letting FIFA president Gianni Infantino loose with a microphone on the field. The head of world football’s governing body launched into an astonishing address at yesterday’s welcome press conference, which was utterly bizarre and often simultaneously deeply offensive and unintentionally hilarious. 

Our man Ben Miller attempted the impossible in terms of trying to work out what on early Infantino was jibbering on about. 

LIVE BLOG: Qatar vs Ecuador live: World Cup score, highlights, result from 2022 Group A match

4 hrs 45 mins from kickoff: Qatari artist Fahad Al Kubaisi (photo in the tweet below) is teaming up with K-pop star Jung Kook on the performance of the “Dreamers” song which is expected to be one of the highlights of the show. 

5 hrs from kickoff: The opening ceremony is now an established tradition at World Cup tournaments:

World Cup opening ceremony singers, performers

The lead-up to the opening ceremony has been focused on the artists who said no to the Qatar organizers, from Dua Lipa and Rod Stewart. Reports have also indicated popular artist Shakira declined participating.

But K-pop star Jung Kook, a member of band BTS, will perform a new single created specifically for the World Cup called “Dreamers.” 

The artists that teamed up on the official FIFA anthem “Tukoh Taka” are expected to perform the song during the show: Maluma, Myriam Fares, and Nicki Minaj, who collaborated on the single which features English, Spanish, and Arabic lyrics. Maluma’s had an eventful lead-up after his walking out on an interview went viral.

Other musical artists who will be performing at FIFA Fan Festivals in Qatar could also make an appearance: Diplo, Kizz Daniel, Trinidad Cardona, and Calvin Harris.

Although FIFA never officially released the final list of performers, that hasn’t stopped there from being plenty of speculation around other names who could be part of the opening ceremony lineup, with reports suggesting J. Balvin, Black Eyed Peas, Robbie Williams, and Nora Fatehi are among the other names who could be part of the show.

What time is World Cup opening ceremony?

FIFA confirmed late in the day the official time for the opening ceremonies. Broadcasts around the world will be going live two hours before kickoff of the opening match between Qatar and Ecuador, and the ceremony itself takes place at 17:30 local time. 

  Date Time
USA Sun, Nov. 20 09:30 EST
Canada Sun, Nov. 20 09:30 EST
UK Sun, Nov. 20 14:30 GMT
Australia Mon, Nov. 21 01:30 AEDT
India Sun, Nov. 20 20:30 IST
Hong Kong Sun, Nov. 20 22:30 HKT
Malaysia Sun, Nov. 20 22:30 MYT
Singapore Sun, Nov. 20 22:30 SGT
New Zealand Mon, Nov. 21 03:30 NZDT

World Cup opening ceremony live stream, TV channel

Several official World Cup broadcasters around the globe will be carrying the broadcast and stream of the opening ceremony, as fans get ready for the first game of the tournament.

  TV Channel Streaming
USA FS1, Telemundo fuboTV,
Fox Sports site/app,
Telemundo Dep. site/app,
Peacock
Canada TSN 1/4,
RDS (French)		 TSN site/app,
RDS app
UK BBC BBC iPlayer
Australia SBS SBS On Demand
India — Voot
Hong Kong — —
Malaysia Astro Arena 2 Astro Go
Singapore StarHub (Ch. 251/252),
Singtel TV		 Singtel TV GO, CAST,
StarHub TV+, MeWatch
New Zealand Sky Sport 7 beIN Sky Go, Sky Sport NOW

Watch the opening ceremony on fuboTV in USA:

FuboTV will carry the opening ceremony in the USA via FS1 (English) and Telemundo (Spanish).

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