{"url":"https://pine.blog/sites/6be3a098-7969-4cc5-8501-6cbab5c41b75","id":"6be3a098-7969-4cc5-8501-6cbab5c41b75","title":"Football Gate","description":"Football News","link":"http://www.footballgate.com","tags":[{"slug":"sports","name":"Sports","url":"https://pine.blog/tags/sports"}],"feeds":[{"id":"14724083-4f60-43fc-8c30-4d8cea67f8f3","url":"https://pine.blog/api/feeds/14724083-4f60-43fc-8c30-4d8cea67f8f3","default":false,"feed_url":"http://www.footballgate.com/comments/feed/","title":"Comments for Football Gate","type":"rss","special_source":null,"approximate_update_frequency":{"name":"rarely","description":"Rarely"}},{"id":"592f3bca-464e-4509-980a-3cd8459a52ee","url":"https://pine.blog/api/feeds/592f3bca-464e-4509-980a-3cd8459a52ee","default":false,"feed_url":"http://www.footballgate.com/feed/","title":"Football Gate","type":"rss","special_source":null,"approximate_update_frequency":{"name":"monthly","description":"Monthly"}},{"id":"8c594935-869f-4590-8e97-813fbdba8ced","url":"https://pine.blog/api/feeds/8c594935-869f-4590-8e97-813fbdba8ced","default":true,"feed_url":"http://www.footballgate.com/feed","title":"Football Gate","type":"rss","special_source":null,"approximate_update_frequency":{"name":"monthly","description":"Monthly"}}],"type":"blog","image":"http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/favicon10.png","total_recommendations":0,"recommended":false,"default_feed":{"id":"8c594935-869f-4590-8e97-813fbdba8ced","url":"https://pine.blog/api/feeds/8c594935-869f-4590-8e97-813fbdba8ced","default":true,"posts":[{"url":"https://pine.blog/posts/535c7757-3458-4788-b16a-088a10b18d38","author":{"name":"Football Gate","image":"http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/favicon10.png"},"site":{"url":"https://pine.blog/sites/6be3a098-7969-4cc5-8501-6cbab5c41b75","title":"Football Gate","description":"Football News","link":"http://www.footballgate.com","type":"blog","image":"http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/favicon10.png","approximate_update_frequency":{"name":"monthly","description":"Monthly"}},"feed":{"url":"https://pine.blog/api/feeds/8c594935-869f-4590-8e97-813fbdba8ced","default":true,"feed_url":"http://www.footballgate.com/feed","title":"Football Gate","last_updated":"2019-07-23T10:10:51.767653Z","type":"rss","special_source":null,"approximate_update_frequency":{"name":"monthly","description":"Monthly"}},"id":"535c7757-3458-4788-b16a-088a10b18d38","external_link":null,"title":"Takeovers that could’ve changed the landscape of the Premier League","content":"Having seen the recent success of Manchester City and Chelsea which has changed the landscape of the Premier League mainly thanks to the vast financial resources of their owners. There have been a few near takeovers which may have changed the way we see the premier league as how it is now. Here we look […]","short_content":"Having seen the recent success of Manchester City and Chelsea which has changed the landscape of the Premier League mainly thanks to the vast financial resources of their owners. There have been a few near takeovers which may have changed the way we see the premier league as how.","content_html":"

Having seen the recent success of Manchester City and Chelsea which has changed the landscape of the Premier League mainly thanks to the vast financial resources of their owners. There have been a few near takeovers which may have changed the way we see the premier league as how it is now. Here we look at the 3 famous near takeovers of Premier League clubs.

One near famous takeover that almost happened was the sale of Newcastle United to a consortium of Nigerian tycoons. During the 2008/2009 premier league season Newcastle United Owner Mike Ashley put the club up for sale after falling out of favour with the fans after the resignation of magpies favourite Kevin Keegan, citing that he did not have full control over the buying and selling of players.

Shortly after putting the club up for sale, a group of Nigerian Businessmen represented by sports agent Chris Nathaniel put in a bid of £350mill to secure the Tyneside club. If proved successful the consortium was planning on reinstating Keegan and investing heavily in transfers. Unfortunately for the fans, their bid was rejected and Mike Ashley till this day remains the owner of Newcastle United

\n $\"Roman$

Roman Abramovich, Peter Kenyon and José Mourinho

Roman Abramovich’s takeover of Chelsea in 2003 is probably the most famous takeover in recent history. Leading the Southwest London club to a horde of trophies in the past few years which include 5 Premier league titles & 1 Champions league trophy. However, before he bought Chelsea off Ken Bates in the summer of 2003, the Russian billionaire was seriously considering buying their north London rivals Tottenham. To the detriment of Spurs fans, Roman Abramovich turned down the chance to buy Spurs after a trip through North East London put him off the area. The Chelsea top dog was said to have described Tottenham as ‘worse than the Siberian city of Omsk’.

Manchester United is the most successful team in English football and one of the biggest sports brands in the world. Boasting a record 20 top division titles, the north-west club was almost bought by Rupert Murdoch’s British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) for an agreed price worth £623.4m in September 1998. Sky was Britain’s most profitable broadcaster and the prospect of a takeover of one of the biggest institutions in the country by a foreign power was sending shockwaves to the public, resulting in boycotts of Murdoch’s Sun newspaper. However, the move was blocked in 1999 by the Department of Trade and Industry. “The MMC’s findings are based mainly on competition grounds where they concluded that the merger would adversely affect competition between broadcasters,” was the official verdict.

Sources: independent.co.uk / wikipedia.org / bbc.co.uk

\n $\"Manchester$

Manchester United stadium front

","short_content_html":"

","date_published":"2019-05-03T14:46:13Z","date_modified":null,"date_collected":"2019-05-04T20:57:56.836382Z","image":"http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/roman-abramovich-peter-kenyon-and-jose-mourinho-chelsea-premier-league-title.jpg","images":["http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/roman-abramovich-peter-kenyon-and-jose-mourinho-chelsea-premier-league-title.jpg","http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/manchester-united-stadium-front.jpg"],"suggested_type":"post","link":"http://www.footballgate.com/2019/05/03/takeovers-that-couldve-changed-the-landscape-of-the-premier-league/","tags":[]},{"url":"https://pine.blog/posts/a2bdecac-0091-4e5f-bb3b-d9be23b87f89","author":{"name":"Football Gate","image":"http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/favicon10.png"},"site":{"url":"https://pine.blog/sites/6be3a098-7969-4cc5-8501-6cbab5c41b75","title":"Football Gate","description":"Football News","link":"http://www.footballgate.com","type":"blog","image":"http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/favicon10.png","approximate_update_frequency":{"name":"monthly","description":"Monthly"}},"feed":{"url":"https://pine.blog/api/feeds/8c594935-869f-4590-8e97-813fbdba8ced","default":true,"feed_url":"http://www.footballgate.com/feed","title":"Football Gate","last_updated":"2019-07-23T10:10:51.767653Z","type":"rss","special_source":null,"approximate_update_frequency":{"name":"monthly","description":"Monthly"}},"id":"a2bdecac-0091-4e5f-bb3b-d9be23b87f89","external_link":null,"title":"The Champions League quarter-finals draw: There are no shortcuts!","content":"We’re entering the decisive stages of the UEFA Champions League and the quarter-finals draw already took place last week. Only 8 teams are left right now and even though some might be more favorite than others, make no mistake that every single team will put their hearts out in order to bring home the much-wanted […]","short_content":"We’re entering the decisive stages of the UEFA Champions League and the quarter-finals draw already took place last week. Only 8 teams are left right now and even though some might be more favorite than others, make no mistake that every single team will put their hearts out in o...","content_html":"

We’re entering the decisive stages of the UEFA Champions League and the quarter-finals draw already took place last week. Only 8 teams are left right now and even though some might be more favorite than others, make no mistake that every single team will put their hearts out in order to bring home the much-wanted silverware.

From England the lineup is certain intimidating, as Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham all have high hopes that this could be their year, but they’ll have tough competition from sides like Juventus, Barcelona, Ajax and FC Porto. It’s worth keeping an eye on UEFA betting odds by BetEasy regularly for odds on upcoming ties. Curiously, the only 2 teams to have never won a Champions League title before are Manchester City and Tottenham, and they’re precisely facing each other in one of the four draws scheduled for April.

Quarter finals draw – Match 1

TOTTENHAM vs MANCHESTER CITY
\n(April 9); (April 17)

The two English sides will are chasing their first-ever Champions League trophy and at least one of them will reach the semi-finals this year. Both of them had quite a comfortable passage in the previous round, with Man City in particular making a strong statement of intents by kicking Schalke 04 out of the tournament in a 10-2 aggregate score. Tottenham may not have had such a soft opponent, but they still impressed the fans when they made quick work of Borussia Dortmund in a 3-0 first leg home win and then when they beat again the German side at the Signal Iduna Park by 1-0.

Together with Juventus and Barcelona, Pep Guardiola‘s side was already one of the biggest favorites to win the Champions League since last summer. They’ll have a tough nut to crack in Tottenham, but if nothing really extraordinay happens, City should be the ones advancing with more or less difficulties. Spurs rely way too much on their topscorer Harry Kane, while Manchester City appears to have a more balanced team in terms of talent.

FootballGate.com predicts:

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

TOTTENHAM	MANCHESTER CITY
\n 30% \n	\n 70% \n

Quarter finals draw – Match 2

AJAX vs JUVENTUS
\n(April 10); (April 16)

We have to go back almost 25 years in order to remember the last time both Juventus and Ajax lifted the Champions League trophy. Ajax won it in 1994-95 and Juve the year after (1995-96), precisely against the Dutch side. This year, Juventus made a strong investment by signing Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid, hoping that the Portuguese superstar may be the piece missing in the puzzle.

In the round-of-16, the Italian champions struggled to get past Atletico Madrid, but the way they managed to pull off the comeback in the second leg has put every other team in the tournament in alert. As for Ajax, they’ve shocked the world when they visited the Bernabéu and humilliated Real Madrid in a 1-4 win. Juventus are heavy favorites going into this tie, but their biggest mistake would be to underestimate a very young and talented side. Nevertheless, if Ronaldo finds himself inspired in any of these games, it probably means it’s game-over for Ajax.

FootballGate.com predicts:

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

AJAX	JUVENTUS
\n 20% \n	\n 80% \n

\n $\"Cristiano$ \n

Cristiano Ronaldo leads Juventus celebrations in Champions League

\n\n

Quarter finals draw – Match 3

MANCHESTER UNITED vs BARCELONA
\n(April 10); (April 16)

It’s probably the most interesting tie of the Champions League quarter-finals draw, at least for us. The way United got rid of PSG in the previous round makes us believe that if they’re on a good night, they can also surprise Barcelona in a 2-leg matchup. It’s not going to be easy though, far from that! Barcelona‘s football gravitates towards their best player Lionel Messi and the Argentine star is in excellent form. The Blaugrana didn’t have to sweat much to run over Lyon in their second leg game last week and once again, it was Messi making all the difference on the pitch.

The first leg at Old Trafford is going to be crucial in determining United chances to go through. Even though the Red Devils already proved they can beat big teams in their own backyard this season (they’ve beaten Juventus in Turin and PSG in Paris), Barça are incredibly consistent at home and if they find themselves leading the tie ahead of the second leg at the Camp Nou, Manchester United are in big trouble and not likely pose a great threat anymore.

FootballGate.com predicts:

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

MANCHESTER UNITED	BARCELONA
\n 35% \n	\n 65% \n

Quarter finals draw – Match 4

LIVERPOOL vs FC PORTO
\n(April 9); (April 17)

Likely the most uneven tie of the Champions League quarter-finals draw, as a very strong Liverpool side meets Portuguese giants FC Porto. The two clubs already met last season in the round-of-16 stage and the Reds bulldozed their way to the next round by tearing up the Portuguese champions by 0-5 at the Estádio do Dragão. A lot have changed in a year’s time of course, but it doesn’t look like Porto has improved enough to threaten Liverpool‘s superiority.

In the previous round, Porto had a very competitive tie against AS Roma and they’ve only confirmed their passage into the quarter-finals after Alex Telles scored a penalty-kick in the 117th minute. On the other hand, Liverpool knocked out Bayern Munich, one of the favorites to win the tournament, and they’ve done it with a brilliant win at the Allianz Arena. In April, Porto needs to come out of Anfield with a result that still allows them to dream with a semi-finals’ presence, which probably means they must not leave England without scoring at least once.

FootballGate.com predicts:

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

LIVERPOOL	FC PORTO
\n 90% \n	\n 10% \n

Sources: foxsports.com.au / skysports.com

\n $\"Liverpool$ \n

Liverpool stadium corner flag

","short_content_html":"

","date_published":"2019-03-19T22:55:29Z","date_modified":null,"date_collected":"2019-03-21T05:57:41.198564Z","image":"http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cristiano-ronaldo-leads-juventus-celebrations-in-champions-league-800x524.jpg","images":["http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cristiano-ronaldo-leads-juventus-celebrations-in-champions-league-800x524.jpg","http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/liverpool-stadium-corner-flag-800x480.jpg"],"suggested_type":"post","link":"http://www.footballgate.com/2019/03/19/the-champions-league-quarter-finals-draw-there-are-no-shortcuts/","tags":[]},{"url":"https://pine.blog/posts/a61fe155-428a-4c0d-94a2-d3edaf36369c","author":{"name":"Football Gate","image":"http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/favicon10.png"},"site":{"url":"https://pine.blog/sites/6be3a098-7969-4cc5-8501-6cbab5c41b75","title":"Football Gate","description":"Football News","link":"http://www.footballgate.com","type":"blog","image":"http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/favicon10.png","approximate_update_frequency":{"name":"monthly","description":"Monthly"}},"feed":{"url":"https://pine.blog/api/feeds/8c594935-869f-4590-8e97-813fbdba8ced","default":true,"feed_url":"http://www.footballgate.com/feed","title":"Football Gate","last_updated":"2019-07-23T10:10:51.767653Z","type":"rss","special_source":null,"approximate_update_frequency":{"name":"monthly","description":"Monthly"}},"id":"a61fe155-428a-4c0d-94a2-d3edaf36369c","external_link":null,"title":"Will José Mourinho return to Real Madrid?","content":"Once again, Real Madrid season has been far from perfect and as we prepare to walk into March, the Merengues are already out of the Copa del Rey and sits on 3rd place in La Liga, 2 points behind Atletico Madrid and 9 points behind the leaders Barcelona. But not everything is lost yet, as […]","short_content":"Once again, Real Madrid season has been far from perfect and as we prepare to walk into March, the Merengues are already out of the Copa del Rey and sits on 3rd place in La Liga, 2 points behind Atletico Madrid and 9 points behind the leaders Barcelona. But not everything is lost...","content_html":"

Once again, Real Madrid season has been far from perfect and as we prepare to walk into March, the Merengues are already out of the Copa del Rey and sits on 3rd place in La Liga, 2 points behind Atletico Madrid and 9 points behind the leaders Barcelona. But not everything is lost yet, as Madrid are in good position to go through into the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals round, after having beaten Ajax by 1-2 in Amsterdam in the first leg, just a couple weeks ago. It looks like Madrid are yet again going all-in in the Champions League for another year and you can download this William Hill mobile app if you want to bet on “Los Blancos” to win the most coveted trophy in Europe.

Real Madrid‘s current manager, Santiago Solari, is on a tough spot right now. The only way to still save the season is to win the Champions League, but the reigning European champions are not main favorites to lift the trophy next June. According to many sports bookmakers in the market, the favorites are Manchester City, followed by Barcelona, PSG and only then Real Madrid. Nevertheless, we’ve learned not to underestimate the Merengues in Europe’s major competition and it’s going to be interesting to see if the club pulls it off and takes home their 4th consecutive Champions League trophy. What an achievement that would be!

\n $\"José$ \n

José Mourinho in a Real Madrid training

\n\n

However and in the event that Solari fails to deliver the silverware at the end of the season, it’s almost a certainty that a new manager will replace him in order to start preparing the next season. And as usual, several names have already been making headlines left and right in the media, with one in particular standing out from the rest: José Mourinho. The Portuguese manager had a 3-year spell with Real Madrid back in 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13, in which he won a Spanish League (2011-12), a Copa del Rey (2010-11) and a Spanish Supercup (2012). A lot of Madrid fans still have huge respect for Mourinho since then, as they believe the Portuguese was the main responsible for interrupting Barcelona‘s dynasty at the time.

In his last adventure in English soil when managing Manchester United, Mourinho struggled once again with a lot of conflicts with his own players. In fact, that’s been the main reason for almost all his club departures in the last 15 years and as time passes, it only seem to be getting worse. It’s a battle of egos between manager and players and it usually ends with the first being discarded. Nevertheless,

Florentino Pérez still has a great relationship with the Portuguese manager and according to multiple reports from European press, he’s Pérez first choice for the job.

If Mourinho does arrive to Madrid for a second time in his career, he’ll most probably be given the freedom and the budget to sign a bunch of new players to the team. A new centre-forward (striker) will be a priority to a team like Real Madrid, as well as a left-back and an attacking midfielder. Names like Lewandowski from Bayern Munich, Éden Hazard from Chelsea and Alex Sandro from Juventus are already being hinted with a summer move to the Spanish capital.

Sources: sports.yahoo.com / espn.com

\n $\"José$ \n

José Mourinho and Florentino Pérez in Madrid

","short_content_html":"

","date_published":"2019-02-28T15:34:58Z","date_modified":null,"date_collected":"2019-02-28T20:55:50.950913Z","image":"http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/jose-mourinho-real-madrid-training-800x450.jpg","images":["http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/jose-mourinho-real-madrid-training-800x450.jpg","http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/jose-mourinho-and-florentino-perez-in-madrid-800x450.jpg"],"suggested_type":"post","link":"http://www.footballgate.com/2019/02/28/will-jose-mourinho-return-to-real-madrid/","tags":[]},{"url":"https://pine.blog/posts/3abca481-4853-4bc0-9776-fd3e12f12e8e","author":{"name":"Football Gate","image":"http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/favicon10.png"},"site":{"url":"https://pine.blog/sites/6be3a098-7969-4cc5-8501-6cbab5c41b75","title":"Football Gate","description":"Football News","link":"http://www.footballgate.com","type":"blog","image":"http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/favicon10.png","approximate_update_frequency":{"name":"monthly","description":"Monthly"}},"feed":{"url":"https://pine.blog/api/feeds/8c594935-869f-4590-8e97-813fbdba8ced","default":true,"feed_url":"http://www.footballgate.com/feed","title":"Football Gate","last_updated":"2019-07-23T10:10:51.767653Z","type":"rss","special_source":null,"approximate_update_frequency":{"name":"monthly","description":"Monthly"}},"id":"3abca481-4853-4bc0-9776-fd3e12f12e8e","external_link":null,"title":"Chelsea’s signing of Higuaín could have a great impact on the FPL","content":"Chelsea have finally completed the signing of Gonzalo Higuain on loan from Juventus. With the signing of the former Real Madrid and Napoli star, Chelsea fans will be hoping they have finally solved their striker problem. While Tottenham are most bookmakers’ favorite for a top 4 finish, Chelsea are currently second favorite for the top […]","short_content":"Chelsea have finally completed the signing of Gonzalo Higuain on loan from Juventus. With the signing of the former Real Madrid and Napoli star, Chelsea fans will be hoping they have finally solved their striker problem. While Tottenham are most bookmakers’ favorite for a top 4 f...","content_html":"

Chelsea have finally completed the signing of Gonzalo Higuain on loan from Juventus. With the signing of the former Real Madrid and Napoli star, Chelsea fans will be hoping they have finally solved their striker problem. While Tottenham are most bookmakers’ favorite for a top 4 finish, Chelsea are currently second favorite for the top 4 race. We advise punters betting on the top 4 finish to use these bet offers for the best value. Having said that, it is also important to state the fact that Higuain will have a big influence on the increasingly popular fantasy premier league game.

The signing of Higuain wiill not only delight Chelsea fans, it will delight lots of Fantasy Premier league managers ( including yours truly ) as well. Priced at just £9.5m, more than 20,000 fantasy premier league managers have transferred in the Argentine since the deal became official. The signing of Higuain is very likely not to have an impact on Chelsea alone but as well as on Hazard who has been woefully out of form in the last few game weeks as a result of being played out of position.

I am convinced the signing of Higuain will make Hazard good again for FPL managers who still own him but I advise those who haven’t purchased him yet to wait at least two games week before making a decision.

\n $\"Higuaín$ \n

Higuaín and Sarri will meet again after first experience in Napoli

\n\n

But as a fantasy football manager, you just need to take a look at his previous records for his former clubs. Higuain has proved himself as a prolific goal scorer in the last five years and despite his age, I personally believe he will deliver in the Premier league. Although his well known tendency to miss sitters ( like the one at the world cup in 2014 ) and his failure to perform at the later stages of the UEFA champions league is a put off for some, Fantasy premier league managers will do well to take note of the fact that in the last five years, no one has scored more goals than Higuain in a defensive league such as the Serie A.

In Italy, Higuain has the reputation of an ultimate goalscorer. Aside that among the strikers in the big five European leagues since the beginning of 2006/2007 season, Higuain is second only behind Lionel Messi in terms of shot conversion. While Messi converts 20.94% of his shots, Higuain converts 19.96% of his shots.

Since 1993, there has been only two players who have scored 30+ goals in a single Serie A season and these two are Lucas Toni and Higuain. In the 20015/20016 season ( a season before he moved to Juventus ), Higuain scored 36 goals in the league while playing under the instructions of current Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri at Napoli. That feat equalled a 87 years record held by Gino Rossetti.

Unfortunately his team at Juventus didn’t go well as according to the player himself, he was kicked out in order for the Old Lady as Juventus are otherwise known as to accommodate the record breaking signing of Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid.

Juventus’ loss could however be Chelsea’s gain as Higuain would be determined to prove himself in the Premier league and with the likes of Hazard, Pedro and Willian to supply him, Higuain could be hitting the ground running.

Sources: theguardian.com / bbc.com

\n $\"Gonzalo$ \n

Gonzalo Higuaín in his Chelsea presentation on January 2019

","short_content_html":"

","date_published":"2019-01-25T19:38:29Z","date_modified":null,"date_collected":"2019-01-29T18:16:12.739531Z","image":"http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/higuain-and-sarri-meet-again-after-first-experience-in-napoli-800x450.jpg","images":["http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/higuain-and-sarri-meet-again-after-first-experience-in-napoli-800x450.jpg","http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/gonzalo-higuain-chelsea-presentation-800x450.jpg"],"suggested_type":"post","link":"http://www.footballgate.com/2019/01/25/chelseas-signing-of-higuain-could-have-a-great-impact-on-the-fpl/","tags":[]},{"url":"https://pine.blog/posts/b8bfee21-640c-4922-9fe7-10ae71c0ad15","author":{"name":"Football Gate","image":"http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/favicon10.png"},"site":{"url":"https://pine.blog/sites/6be3a098-7969-4cc5-8501-6cbab5c41b75","title":"Football Gate","description":"Football News","link":"http://www.footballgate.com","type":"blog","image":"http://www.footballgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/favicon10.png","approximate_update_frequency":{"name":"monthly","description":"Monthly"}},"feed":{"url":"https://pine.blog/api/feeds/8c594935-869f-4590-8e97-813fbdba8ced","default":true,"feed_url":"http://www.footballgate.com/feed","title":"Football Gate","last_updated":"2019-07-23T10:10:51.767653Z","type":"rss","special_source":null,"approximate_update_frequency":{"name":"monthly","description":"Monthly"}},"id":"b8bfee21-640c-4922-9fe7-10ae71c0ad15","external_link":null,"title":"What’s going to be unique at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar?","content":"The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia was marked by some exciting games and a ton of beautiful goals. In the end, France proved betting sites forecasts right and prevailed over Croatia to become the world champion for the second time in history. However, people have already started to look forward to the next World […]","short_content":"The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia was marked by some exciting games and a ton of beautiful goals. In the end, France proved betting sites forecasts right and prevailed over Croatia to become the world champion for the second time in history. However, people have already started t...","content_html":"

The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia was marked by some exciting games and a ton of beautiful goals. In the end, France proved betting sites forecasts right and prevailed over Croatia to become the world champion for the second time in history.

However, people have already started to look forward to the next World Cup event, the one that will be held in Qatar in 2022. There will be many novelties, and in this article, we will point out some of the main ones.

The first World Cup in Autumn

As you can see on the Football Gate website, the 2018/19 season is well underway, and the teams are preparing for the second half of the season. The FIFA World Cup has always been held during the summer, when there are almost no club competitions and the players are available to participate for their national teams.

However, summer in Qatar is scorching hot, as temperatures can go well above 40 degrees Celsius. This is why the organizers decided that the event will be held from November 21st until December 18th.

It is left to see how will this affect the regular season schedule, as national leagues will have to make some adjustments. Nevertheless, autumn in Qatar can be really hot as well, and that’s why the organizers have plans to implement the cutting-edge solar power cooling technology on stadiums.

\n $\"Qatar$ \n

Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup stadium

\n\n

The first Arab country to host the tournament

The World Cup was held on five different continents in the past, including Asia. However, the 2022 event in Qatar will be the first one held in an Arab country, and a country with a majority of Muslim population.

Qatar has developed massively in the past several years. The country’s capital, Doha, has gone from a small fishing town to a metropolis in only a few decades. There will be four other cities hosting the event alongside Doha, and the stadiums will only be a few hours away from each other.

This is yet another novelty that will benefit the teams and their preparations.

The number of teams

The first World Cup to have a 32-team format was the one held in France in 1998. That same format was used ever since, but that’s going to change as well. While the cup in Qatar is still officially going to host 32 nations, organizers are still discussing to extend that number to 48.

For now, the initial plans of extending the format is reserved for the 2026 World Cup that’s going to be held in Canada, Mexico, and the USA.

Sources: espn.com

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Qatar will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup

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However, people have already started t...

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Quarter finals draw – Match 1

TOTTENHAM vs MANCHESTER CITY\n(April 9); (April 17)

30%

70%

Quarter finals draw – Match 2

AJAX vs JUVENTUS\n(April 10); (April 16)

20%

80%

Quarter finals draw – Match 3

MANCHESTER UNITED vs BARCELONA\n(April 10); (April 16)

35%

65%

Quarter finals draw – Match 4

LIVERPOOL vs FC PORTO\n(April 9); (April 17)

90%

10%

The first World Cup in Autumn

The first Arab country to host the tournament

The number of teams

TOTTENHAM vs MANCHESTER CITY
\n(April 9); (April 17)

AJAX vs JUVENTUS
\n(April 10); (April 16)

MANCHESTER UNITED vs BARCELONA
\n(April 10); (April 16)

LIVERPOOL vs FC PORTO
\n(April 9); (April 17)