FIFA president Gianni Infantino has described the opening stages of the World Cup as the "best ever" and the tournament a "fantastic success" as he looked ahead to the quarter-finals at Qatar 2022.
Speaking in Doha on Wednesday, Infantino praised the "great, great quality" of the matches, the high standard of the stadiums - "we knew that already," he said - and the crowds, averaging over 51,000.
"Incredible excitement, surprises, small teams beating big teams," Infantino said, adding, "there are no more small teams and no more big teams. The level is very, very equal. For the first time as well, national teams from all continents going to the knock-out phase for the first time in history. This shows that football is really becoming truly global."
"Now, we reach, really, the top competitive phase where, of course, the big stars, the big players, the big teams, will make the difference on the pitch," he said. "So I hope, and I'm sure, we will see a fantastic conclusion of this World Cup. And I'm definitely looking very much forward to that, and I'm sure that all the people around the world who are football fans, who love football, who are interested in this World Cup, look forward to the coming games as well."
The first two quarter-finals - between Croatia and Brazil, and Netherlands and Argentina - take place on 9th December, with the second two - Morocco versus Portugal and England against France, a day later on the 10th.
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