So much has been discussed regarding the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar over the last 12 years, but on Sunday the football itself finally gets underway as the host nation take on Ecuador in Group A. All eyes may well be on Felix Sanchez's side, but it is Ecuador who are favoured to progress from Group A with Enner Valencia and Moises Caicedo among their star names.
Here is everything you need to know ahead of Sunday’s action…
Qatar v Ecuador - Group A
Where: Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor.
When: 4pm (GMT) / 7pm (AST)
TV: BBC One, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website
Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy)
Last meeting: Qatar 4-3 Ecuador (Doha, 2018)
Qatar’s last five: Won 1-0 v Albania, Won 2-1 v Panama, Won 1-0 v Honduras, Won 2-0 v Guatemala, Drew 2-2 v Chile
Qatar's World Cup record: First finals appearance
Ecuador’s last five: Drew 0-0 v Iraq, Drew 0-0 v Japan, Drew 0-0 v Saudi Arabia, Won 1-0 v Cape Verde, Drew 0-0 v Mexico
Ecuador's World Cup record: Fourth finals appearance (Best: Round of 16, 2006) Total Games: 10, Won 4, Drawn 1, Lost 5. Win percentage: 40%
Qatar squad: 1 Saad Al-Sheeb, 2 Ro-Ro, 3 Abdelkarim Hassan, 4 Mohammed Waad, 5 Tarek Salman, 6 Abdulaziz Hatem, 7 Ahmed Alaaeldin, 8 Ali Assadalla, 9 Mohammed Muntari, 10 Hassan Al-Haydos, 11 Akram Afif, 12 Karim Boudiaf, 13 Musab Kheder, 14 Homam Ahmed, 15 Bassam Al-Rawi, 16 Boualem Khoukhi, 17 Ismaeel Mohammad, 18 Khalid Muneer, 19 Almoez Ali, 20 Salem Al-Hairi, 21 Yousef Hassan, 22 Meshaal Barsham, 23 Assim Madibo, 24 Naif Al-Hadhrami, 25 Jassem Gaber, 26 Mostafa Meshaal
Ecuador squad: 1 Hernan Galindez, 2 Felix Torres, 3 Piero Hincapie, 4 Robert Arboleda, 5 Jose Cifuentes, 6 William Pacho, 7 Pervis Estupinan, 8 Carlos Gruezo, 9 Ayrton Preciado, 10 Romario Ibarra, 11 Michael Estrada, 12 Moises Ramirez, 13 Enner Valencia, 14 Xavier Arreaga, 15 Angel Mena, 16 Jeremy Sarmiento, 17 Angelo Preciado, 18 Diego Palacios, 19 Gonzalo Plata, 20 Sebas Mendez, 21 Alan Franco, 22 Alexander Dominguez, 23 Moises Caicedo, 24 Djorkaeff Reasco, 25 Jackson Porozo, 26 Kevin Rodriguez
Preview: As the 50th-ranked international team in the world, little is expected of Qatar at this World Cup, but they will hope to replicate their experience in the 2011 Asian Cup when they bounced back from an opening-day loss to Uzbekistan by beating China and Kuwait to qualify for the quarter-finals, where they lost to eventual winners Japan. In this 22nd Fifa World Cup, the Maroon will be looking to avoid becoming only the second host nation to be eliminated in the group stage after South Africa in 2010.
For Ecuador this is a fourth World Cup finals appearance in six attempts, 20 years on from their debut at the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan. That alone makes this arguably the heyday of Ecuadorian football, and under coach Gustavo Alfaro there will be hopes of reaching another knockout stage to equal their achievement in 2006. However, they scraped through a very forgiving group-stage model in last year's Copa America without winning a game and are the third-highest ranked team in Group A, meaning a win first up against Qatar and then another positive result against Netherlands or Senegal is imperative if they are to last longer than nine days in the competition.
Sportsman stat: Ecuador have not conceded a goal in 606 minutes, having kept six clean sheets since Julian Alvarez scored for Argentina in a 1-1 draw in their final World Cup qualifier in March. However, they have only scored once in their last five matches, recording four 0-0 draws.
Betfred match odds: Qatar 12/5, Ecuador 9/4, draw 21/10
Favourites for first goalscorer: Enner Valencia (Ecuador) 5/1, Almoez Ali (Qatar) 6/1, Michael Estrada (Qatar) 6/1
Featured bet: Enner Valencia to score a hat-trick 125/1
To qualify from Group A: Qatar 7/2, Ecuador 11/10
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject to Change
