December 26 – Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid has been further boosted by the support of the Arab Soccer Federation (ASF) which claimed that the country had the credentials to host sport’s biggest showpiece.
A statement released by the ASF urged all football associations in the Arab world to stand by Qatar as it attempts to bring the World Cup to the Middle East for the first time in history.
The support has given the bid an extra momentum after positive comments by the greats of the game such as Gabriel Batistuta and Pep Guardiola who have backed Qatar’s campaigns, saying it was about time the World Cup came to the region.
Concerns about the heat and humidity were dismissed as minor by Batistuta, who said with Qatar looking into new cooling technologies to deal with the weather it will not be much a problem.
He cited his own experience of playing the 1994 World Cup in the US with temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius in some cities.
Guardiola, who won six titles as coach for Barcelona this year, gave his backing to the bid while on a visit to Doha earlier this week.
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