2022 is upon us and being a World Cup year, it holds a lot of promise for the fans.
Fans in India will also be looking forward to the World Cup, given how popular the tournament, which is set to kick-off in November 2021 in Qatar, is worldwide.
But while Indians will be cheering for other countries in the men's World Cup, they will be able to cheer for their own national side in two tournaments, the 2022 AFC Asian Cup and the 2022 U17 Women's World Cup. Both the competitions will be hosted by India.
Let us take a look at the five events which fans in India look forward to in 2022.
January 20 - February 6: 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup
The year begins with the much anticipated AFC Women's Asian Cup which India is hosting for the first time in history. The 20th edition of the tournament will feature 12 teams from Asia. It will also act as the final stage of Asian qualification for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Five teams will qualify for the main event directly while two of them will progress to the inter-confederation play-offs.
All the Asian Cup matches will be played across three venues - Mumbai Football Arena in Mumbai, DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, and the Balewadi Stadium in Pune.
AIFF Media
May 28: Champions League 2021/22 final
The final of the ongoing 2021/22 UEFA Champions League will be held at the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg, Russia on May 28. The group stages got over in December 2020 and the knock-out stage is set to begin from February 16. While most of the elite European teams have made it to the round of 16, five-time champions Barcelona were ousted from the group stage.
Some big clashes in the upcoming round include Atletico Madrid vs Cristiano Ronaldo's Manchester United, Inter Milan vs Liverpool and Lionel Messi's PSG face Real Madrid.
June 8 - June 14: 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification third round
The third round of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification will be held between June 8 to June 4. 24 teams are divided into six groups of four teams each. Every group will be assigned a centralised venue where all the matches will be played in a single round-robin format. All the group winners and five best runners-up will qualify for the 2023 Asian Cup. The draw for the qualification third round is set to be held on February 24 in Kuala Lumpur.
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October: 11 - 30 2022 U17 Women's World Cup
The 2022 Women's U17 World Cup will be another big international tournament that will be hosted by India. India were initially supposed to host the 2020 edition of the competition but after multiple postponements, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the edition was scrapped and India were awarded the hosting rights of the 2022 campaign.
Five venues had been selected as host cities for the tournament - the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK) in Kolkata, Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati, EKA Arena in Ahmedabad and the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
November 21 - December 18 - 2022 World Cup
The year ends with a bang as the biggest event in world football, the World Cup will be held in Qatar in November and December. Interestingly, it is the first ever World Cup in the Middle-East.
The qualification rounds of all the confederations are ongoing and the final intercontinental play-offs will be played on June 14.
All eyes will be on the European qualifiers as Italy and Portugal are drawn in the same path in the UEFA qualifiers second round. Portugal face Turkey in the semifinal while Italy take on North Macedonia. If both the giants win they face each other in the final on March 29 and the winner make it to the World Cup.
