2022 FIFA World Cup Dates Officially Set: Latest Details and Reaction

FIFA announced Friday that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar would be played over a span of 28 days. The tournament will start on Monday, Nov. 21, and it will end on Qatar's national holiday, Dec. 18.  

Sky Sports News HQ confirmed the governing body's decision. ESPN FC notes the four-week event cuts four days off of the standard event schedule and is being done to limit the disruption to leagues that will need to alter their seasons after the tournament was moved from its usual summer placement.

In March, FIFA moved forward with the plan to switch the time frame in order to avoid the summer heat for both players and fans. A decision was also made to make sure the event was completed in time for the holiday period, per Joshua Robinson of the Wall Street Journal.

"For us it's a major step, because finally we know and we can move forward," FIFA director of communications Walter de Gregorio said. "At least we know that the final will not be the 23rd [of December], so time to make Christmas shopping and time to go home."

Granting the marquee international sporting event to the small Asian nation has caused numerous headaches for FIFA. Along with scheduling woes and worker deaths, there's also a Swiss probe into corruption allegations surrounding both the 2022 World Cup and the 2018 edition in Russia.

Euan McKirdy of CNN reported in July that Swiss investigators found "81 acts of suspicious financial activity" related to the events. Russia and Qatar have both denied any wrongdoing connected to the winning bids, though.

Several FIFA officials were arrested in May on a variety of charges related to $150 million in bribes and kickbacks for their support of previous FIFA matters.

For now, it appears the governing body is moving full steam ahead with its plans to stage the next two World Cups in Russia and Qatar. Getting the latter event's schedule out now will help domestic leagues try to minimize the damage of the poor timing.

Cutting four days from the Qatar tournament won't completely negate the issues. That said, it could help the leagues squeeze an extra match in that wouldn't have been possible with a standard schedule.