Ten Years into the making and finally the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup the 500-day countdown to next year’s World Cup began on Friday the 9th of July 2021.
This will be the first time a FIFA World Cup would be held in the Middle East and the greater Arab world which commences on 21st of November 2022 at the 60,000 seat Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor and conclude on Qatar National Day in the 80,000 seat Lusail Stadium on the 18th of December 2022.
All Qatari Citizens and residents alike are looking forward to this with pride at hosting the biggest single-sport event in the world, creating history in this part of the world, and taking advantage of the underlying opportunity of bringing the Arab world together at a time like this when the whole region is in political & economic turmoil while it appears calm on the surface.
The one big advantage for all the visiting spectators in this event would have to be the compact tournament footprint in Qatar as all the 8 stadiums are within an hour’s driving distance from the capital Doha, which means that fans do not have to take flights from one city to another or change hotels.
The whole tournament can be covered by staying in one hotel during the entire time while also saving time and money. The compact nature is probably the most positive aspect of this World Cup for fans to follow their teams from city to city.
Qatar FIFA 2022 has focused on this event was to make this event a sustainable event while placing a lot of focus on reducing the carbon footprint
Leading up to the Qatar 2022 next year, Qatar is also looking at testing the vital infrastructure and operations while also letting the regional fans exercise their football passion and an opportunity to endorse Qatar 2022 by organising the FIFA Arab Cup 2021 in November this year with 16 regional teams participating for the cup.
So far Qatar’s FIFA World Cup infrastructure projects had reached 95% completion, with all the stadiums set to be ready by the end of the year 2021. Since 2011 Qatar has been working hard on getting the national infrastructure ready for the World Cup like the sparkling new Doha Metro, new airport, extensive highway expansion, new malls, hotels, and associated infrastructure to welcome the arriving international fans making them always feel comfortable while maintaining the local culture & tradition untouched.
Another key aspect that Qatar FIFA 2022 has focused on this event was to make this event a sustainable event while placing a lot of focus on reducing the carbon footprint and the legacy aspect of it from the beginning. The design & build of some of the stadiums is such that post the event the stadium can be dismantled and can be shipped and built somewhere else by way of donation to other developing nations. Qatar is confident that this mega-event will not only be the biggest show on Earth but a tournament that raises the benchmark for the future World Cups to come.
Living in Qatar for the last 13 years, I have seen the rapid development and transformation that has happened over the last 10 years and having been actively associated with the Infrastructure Development Projects process albeit in a small way am confident Qatar will keep up the ongoing drive and live up to its promise of – Expect Amazing 2022.