FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is officially underway as of Nov. 20, with 64 matches planned as teams from around the world play for gold. The World Cup is played every four years similar to the Olympics, and has been around since 1930. 

  The World Cup is complete with 32 teams and are divided into eight groups of four. The teams are currently in the group stage, where each of the four teams play each other to build up points in order to advance to the first round. A team earns three points for a win, one point for a tie,  and zero points for a loss.  

  The points accumulate as each team plays three matches in the group stage and the top two teams with the highest number of points will advance to the round of 16, which is the first round of the “knockout stage” of the tournament according to the FIFA website. The round of 16 runs from Dec. 3-6, the quarter-finals will last from Dec. 9-10, semi-finals will be Dec. 13-14 and the final game will occur on Dec. 18. 

 Much like the NBA’s March Madness, soccer fanatics can print out bracket challenges to predict which teams will advance. A bracket challenge from CBS Sports can be found with this article to track the tournament. The games are live streamed on a multitude of platforms across the world, so pick your favorite and follow along to see who makes it all the way. 

   As of Thursday, Dec. 8, eight teams have been eliminated from the tournament, with the round of 16 fully completed. The eliminated teams are as follows: United States (vs Netherlands), Australia (vs Argentina), Japan (vs Croatia), South Korea (vs Brazil), Poland (vs France), Senegal (vs England), Spain (vs Morocco), and Switzerland (vs Portugal). The winning teams will be advancing to the quarter finals, running from Dec. ninth to the tenth. The Netherlands vs Argentina, Croatia vs Brazil, England vs France, and Morocco vs Portugal. Countries that advance will move onto the semi-finals of the tournament.