This year’s World Cup in Qatar will start a day earlier than originally scheduled with the opening ceremony now taking place before the host nation kick off the tournament on Sunday, November 20, against Ecuador, world governing body Fifa said on Thursday.

The original plan was for the opening ceremony to be held before Qatar’s first game on November 21, which would have created the unusual situation of two matches — Senegal vs Netherlands and England vs Iran — being held before the ceremony.

Normally, the ceremony is conducted before the kick-off of the first game of the tournament.

Hosts Qatar will now make their World Cup debut against Ecuador at 7pm local time (9.30pm IST) after an opening ceremony at the 60,000-capacity Al Bayt Stadium. The change is in line with the long-standing tradition of opening matches involving hosts or holders.

The Group A match between Senegal and Netherlands, originally scheduled to be the tournament opener, has been pushed back by six hours from 1pm local time (3.30pm IST) on November 21 to the 7pm slot vacated by Qatar vs Ecuador.

England’s Group B match with Iran and the US’s opener against Wales, which are also scheduled for November 21, remain unaffected by the change. The plan has been signed by a committee comprising of the heads of Fifa’s six regional confederations and president Gianni Infantino.

The change stretches the World Cup to 29 days until the December 18 final and comes after several rounds of ticket sales, with organisers having sold 1.8 million tickets so far.