The World Cup in Qatar kicks off on Sunday November 20th and it's the first time that the tournament has been played in the mid-season winter months of the European Leagues. This has all come about to play the matches on relatively milder days of middle eastern weather as opposed to the normal scorching hot days of their summer.

England start their campaign with a first round Group B match against Iran on Monday 21st at 1pm UK time. They then follow that up with games against the USA on Friday 25th at 7pm and Wales on Tuesday 29th at 7pm. There are 32 teams playing in eight groups of four and the full World Cup draw can be viewed here. The tournament spans 4 weeks with the final being played at the Lusail Stadium in Doha a week before Christmas on Sunday December 18th.

There is one major change at this World Cup where the introduction of Semi-Automated Offside Technology will be used for the first time at a major tournament. This is an extension of the already contentious VAR technology which has divided football fans and players opinion since its first introduction at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. It will be interesting to see how the new technology performs and whether it will turn out to be a feature that is used throughout major leagues moving forwards. FIFA have launched the new feature with a video that will allow fans to familiarise themselves with the new technology before it arrives on our screens on the 20th of November.

For some of us that have absolutely no interest in football, then at least you should be safe in the knowledge that if you would prefer to be looking at some lovely materials handling equipment, then there is always our website to browse at your leisure! You can even have a peek at our YouTube channel that provides information that may not make you feel as annoyed as VAR does!

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