TEHRAN – Argentina ended their long title drought by beating France 4-2 in penalty shootout of the 2022 FIFA World Cup final. La Abliceste won the title after 36 years. Regardless of final result, FOOTBALL brought billions of people together in a one-month period.

Reportedly, around five billion people watched the 2022 FIFA World Cup. It means Qatar’s World Cup is the most-viewed in the history.

As a person who fell in love with football since 1982, I have to say it has never betrayed me. I still remember Uli Stielike bemoaned after his penalty was saved by France goalkeeper Jean-Luc Ettori in the 1982 World Cup semifinals, where the West Germany won the match 5-4 at last in Sevilla, Spain. I was nine.

Since then, football has made me happy and sad for many times but it has been very satisfactory.

On Dec. 25, 1914, World War I stopped for a football game. They called it the Christmas Truce. This is football’s miracle.

Thank you football for helping people to forget their glitches for the hours. Thank you for making people to fight together in a peaceful atmosphere.

Finally, Qatar successfully hosted the tournament and this was contrary to many experts’ predictions and basic common sense.