On December 18, 2022, as 88,966 spectators filled the Lusail Stadium to watch the pulsating final between Argentina and France, close to 1.5 billion people were also watching it around the world across different platforms.

That Qatar successfully pulled off the organisation of the single biggest sporting event on the planet is a source of immense pride. However, one can truly appreciate the scale of Qatar’s achievement only when one see the incredible set of numbers behind it.

One month on from #Qatar2022

From 172 goals to 420,000 volunteer applications, we take a look back at the record-breaking numbers from the 22nd edition of the #FIFAWorldCup:

— FIFA (@FIFAcom) January 18, 2023

Early figures suggest that around five billion people engaged with the month-long tournament in Qatar. Nielsen calculated that there were 93.6 million posts across all social media platforms, with a 262 billion cumulative reach and 5.95 billion engagements.

What a crowd!!!!! #Qatar2022 #brazil #serbia pic.twitter.com/3yHPQEoeSR

— Mohammed Al-Jufairi (@Halawala) November 24, 2022

A total of 3.4 million spectators enjoyed the World Cup from within Qatar’s stadiums, up from 3 million in Russia in 2018. With 172 goals, the 2022 FIFA World Cup was the highest-scoring in history, eclipsing the previous highest of 171 — at 1998 France and 2014 Brazil. 

Coming to players, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo became the first man to score at five FIFA World Cups (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022). Argentina’s Lionel Messi became the player with the most number of World Cup appearances — 26 — surpassing Germany’s Lothar Matthaus.

Cristiano Ronaldo becomes the first man in history to score at FIVE World Cups

2006
2010
2014
2018
2022 #Qatar2022 #PORGHA #Portugal pic.twitter.com/xrAN1bKt8K

— i sport (@iPaperSport) November 24, 2022

The fastest World Cup goal came after just 68 seconds when Canada’s Alphonso Davies scored against Croatia. At just 18 years and 110 days, Spain’s Gavi became the youngest goal-scorer at a World Cup since Pele in 1958. He opened his account during Spain’s stunning 7-0 win over Costa Rica.

 

Here are some of the other notable achievements from Qatar 2022.

* Stephanie Frappart, along with assistants Neuza Back and Karen Diaz, became the first three women in FIFA World Cup history to referee a match.

* The quarterfinals featured teams from four confederations for only the third time, and the first in 20 years (1986, 2002, 2022).

* Three Asian teams reached the round of 16 for the first time in FIFA World Cup history.

* Qatar 2022 was the first time an African team made it to the semifinal. Morocco’s incredible campaign united the Middle East and Arab world.

* 1.85 million visitors attended the FIFA Fan Festival. It was the first such event in history to have its own anthem – Tukoh Taka.

A total of 20,000 volunteers from 150 nationalities, including 17,000 residents, helped out with the World Cup’s organisation.

There were 180,000 accredited people, including 10,000 media representatives, who worked to make the tournament a success.

Meanwhile, FIFA has announced the launch of a facility where mobile ticket holders can own a physical and personalised match ticket for the World Cup as souvenirs. 

An original ticket purchaser can now access the Qatar 2022 Ticket Portal and log in to their FIFA Ticketing account to purchase souvenir tickets for themselves and their guests. 

The price of the souvenir ticket has been fixed at QAR10. All tickets booked under a single application number will be printed and each will cost QAR10.

Souvenir tickets will be delivered by regular post to the address registered in the FIFA ticketing account starting from the end of February or the beginning of March.

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