Soccer-Qatar to kick off World Cup as finals brought forward by one day

The FIFA World Cup trophy is displayed during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum 2022 (WEF) in the Alpine resort of Davos, Switzerland May 23, 2022. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

(Reuters) -This year's World Cup in Qatar will start a day earlier than originally scheduled with the opening ceremony now taking place before the host nation kick off the tournament on Sunday, Nov. 20 against Ecuador, world governing body FIFA said on Thursday.

The original plan was for the opening ceremony to be held before Qatar's first game on Nov. 21, which would have created the unusual situation of two matches - Senegal v Netherlands and England v Iran - being held before the ceremony.