By Andrew Warshaw
April 22 – Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organisers are reported to have agreed to radically scale back the number of stadiums being built for the tournament, possibly by up to one third.
The Gulf state, which is promoting 2022 as the compact World Cup, now plans to construct eight stadiums, the minimum number required by FIFA, instead of 12 according to Bloomberg.
Ganim Al Kuwari, the organising committee’s senior manager for projects, conceded at a conference in Doha that original plans for 12 stadiums, including three refurbished, were being revised but gave no exact figure or reason. Reading between the lines, a mixture of cost-cutting and whether there will be an actual need for as many as 12 arenas once the tournament is over could be the reasons behind the move.
Qatar is planning to spend at least $200 billion building infrastructure and buildings for the World Cup including £4 billion on stadiums.
“As is the case with any FIFA World Cup, once a country is chosen as host, a review of the bid plans is made with the organisers to propose the final host cities and stadia projects, which then need to be approved by the FIFA Executive Committee,” Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy said in a statement. “The requirement is a minimum of eight and a maximum of 12 stadia.”
Qatar is preparing to use air conditioning to cool all the venues regardless of whether the event takes place in winter or summer, a decision that will not be taken by FIFA until next year with November the most likely date.
Construction has already started on the Al Wakrah stadium.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734865913labto1734865913ofdlr1734865913owedi1734865913sni@w1734865913ahsra1734865913w.wer1734865913dna1734865913