FIFA World Cup 2022 officially started in great fashion as Ecuador beat the hosts Qatar by 2-0 in the Group A encounter. At the end of this match, Qatar, as a host nation, created an unwanted record in FIFA World Cup history. Qatar is the first ever host nation in FIFA World Cup history to lose its first game of the tournament.
Al Bayt stadium, in Al Khor city, organised the opening game of the biggest football tournament in the world. The 60,000-capacity stadium was fully crowded since the great opening ceremony just ahead of the tournament opener.
FIFA World Cup 2022: Qatar vs Ecuador – Enner Valencia scored both goals after an offside ruled out
The tournament opener started in a dramatic fashion. Although Ecuador captain Enner Valencia successfully netted in just three minutes of that game, the VAR ruled that out due to an earlier offside offence.
However, La tri didn’t wait much to score the opening goal of that game. Skipper Valencia finally opened their account in just the 16th minute of that game after successfully converting a penalty.
Just over the half-an-hour mark of that game (31’), Valencia made the scoreline 2-0 through a fantastic header.
Though FIFA World Cup debutant Qatar tried hard, La tri ultimately secured a comfortable 2-0 win in that tournament opener.
While Qatar became the first FIFA World Cup hosts to lose their first game of the tournament, we have come up with the records of every host nation’s first game in the FIFA World Cup tournament history.
Year | Hosts | Final score | Opponents |
1930 | Uruguay | 1-0 | Peru |
1934 | Italy | 7-1 | United States |
1938 | France | 3-1 | Belgium |
1950 | Brazil | 4-0 | Mexico |
1954 | Switzerland | 2-1 | Italy |
1958 | Sweden | 3-0 | Mexico |
1962 | Chile | 3-1 | Switzerland |
1966 | England | 0-0 | Uruguay |
1970 | Mexico | 0-0 | Soviet Union |
1974 | West Germany | 1-0 | Chile |
1978 | Argentina | 2-1 | Hungary |
1982 | Spain | 1-1 | Honduras |
1986 | Mexico | 2-1 | Belgium |
1990 | Italy | 1-0 | Austria |
1994 | United States | 1-1 | Switzerland |
1998 | France | 3-0 | South Africa |
2002 | South Korea | 2-0 | Poland |
| Japan | 2-2 | Belgium |
2006 | Germany | 4-2 | Costa Rica |
2010 | South Africa | 1-1 | Mexico |
2014 | Brazil | 3-1 | Croatia |
2018 | Russia | 5-0 | Saudi Arabia |
2022 | Qatar | 0-2 | Ecuador |
(Winners are in bold)
Now, we are talking about some other crucial facts and stats of that Qatar vs Ecuador match.
It is the first FIFA World Cup, where the first goal came from a successful penalty kick. Enner Valencia scored that goal in the 16th minute of that game.
By scoring two goals in the opening game of the FIFA World Cup 2022, Ecuador star Enner Valencia has now scored five goals in the FIFA World Cup competition. Surpassing Agustín Delgado, who scored three goals in this tournament history, Valencia now becomes the leading goal-scorer for Ecuador in this competition's history.
After Agustín Delgado (2002 and 2006), Enner Valencia became the second Ecuador player to score in two FIFA World Cup editions. After recording thrice in 2018 in Russia, Valencia has started this 2022 edition in Qatar with two goals.
While Qatar made their FIFA World Cup debut during the opening game of the FIFA World Cup 2022, they were the first Asian opponent for Ecuador in their FIFA World Cup history.
