Will the Arabs bring home the World Cup?
Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Algeria are the only three Arab countries to have advanced from the group stage in the World Cup’s history.
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The 29-day football event will begin on November 20. (AP)
As the countdown begins for the world's biggest football event, Arab teams are preparing to make the most of this winter's Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Iraq have all had at least one appearance in the World Cup with the Qatari national team.
The teams of Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Qatar qualified for the 22nd FIFA World Cup, not to mention that Qatar is the first Arab nation to host a World Cup event.
It is also worth noting that Morocco, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia have the most World Cup experience, with five appearances each, followed by Algeria with four, Egypt with three, and the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iraq, and Qatar with only one.
A Flashback
Egypt was the first Arab country to qualify for an international tournament, doing so for the first time at the 1934 World Cup in Italy, and the Pharaohs remained absent until 1990.
Morocco was the first Arab African country to reach the World Cup round of 16. In Mexico 1986, they won the group stage ahead of England, Poland, and Portugal.
West Germany narrowly defeated the team in the finals.
After finishing second in their group against the Netherlands, Belgium, and Morocco in the United States in 1994, Saudi Arabia became the first Arab Asian nation to advance to the knockout stage.
In the Round of 16, Saudi Arabia was defeated 3-1 by Sweden.
Algeria, along with Morocco and Saudi Arabia, were eliminated from the 2014 World Cup group that also includes Belgium, Russia, and South Korea. Algeria was defeated 2-1 by Germany.
With 16 matches apiece, Morocco and Saudi Arabia are the Arab countries with the most World Cup games played. Tunisia is second with 15 appearances.
It is worth noting that the Qatar 2022 World Cup will be the first in the northern hemisphere to be contested outside of the summer season.
The 29-day football event will begin on November 20 with a match between Qatar and Ecuador at 1600 GMT in the Al Bayt Stadium and conclude on December 18 with the final match at the 80,000-capacity Lusail Iconic Stadium.
The total sum of financial prizes for the international tournament will be $440 million.
The World Cup-winning team will receive $42 million, the runner-up will receive $30 million, the third-place team will receive $27 million, and the fourth will receive $25 million.
The teams that finish the tournament between fifth and eighth place will be given $17 million, and teams from the 9th to the 16th place will receive 13 million dollars.
The teams placed 17th to last will be awarded $9 million. Each participating team will receive one and a half million dollars as expenses for the preparation.
