By Samindra Kunti
January 28 – Nasser Al-Khater, the executive director of communications and marketing at the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee repeated his confidence that Qatar will host a good World Cup in 2022, whether it is in the winter or summer. He also rebuffed all criticism aimed at the Emirate, saying it is time to move on.
Qatar has faced a barrage of criticism over the past year but is keen to get attention focused on sport. The Qatari capital Doha is slowly turning into the epicentre of world sports. This month the city hosted Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at the Qatar Exxon Tennis Open and Ajax Amsterdam and FC Bayern Munich at its state-of-the-art football training complex in the Aspirezone. January’s sports festivities are culminating with the 24th Handball World Cup. Its motto is ‘Live It, Win It.’
A Doha press conference highlighted the country’s impressive facilities. The Aspire Zone is a 250 hectare multisports complex with the Khalifa international stadium, the Hamad Aquatic Center and the Aspire Dome with 13 different playing fields as highlights. The complex was at the heart of the 2006 Asian Games and an important feature of Qatar’s World Cup bid.
The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), which is tasked with the delivery of the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup, also report that Qatar is well on track with its stadium works. There are five stadiums in the construction phase, two stadiums will follow suit after their design launch.
The historic Khalifa international stadium is receiving an upgrade with a new tier and should be completed next year. The capacity is set to be 40,000 and will be reduced to 25,000 in legacy mode. The stadium in Al Rayyan has been deconstructed and its concrete used for other projects. The Qatar Foundation stadium and the stadiums in Al Wakrah and Al Bayt are also under construction.
While this month has been a significant one for Qatar in the buildup to the 2022 World Cup, question marks remain. There are two elephants in the room: the weather-related planning and the ongoing allegations of corruptions against Qatar, especially by foreign media.
Qatar has always maintained that the weather is not a problem. In Doha and the other host cities temperatures can soar up to a grueling 50 degrees in July and June when the World Cup is traditionally played. Cooling would offer the solution.
“Look, first and foremost we are confident of hosting the World Cup anytime of the year,” said Al-Khater. “It is also no secret that the peak tourism timing is November and December. We believe the methods and principles [of cooling] are a solution for many countries that will host the World Cup and other events in the future. Utilizing this technology on such a large scale and having to think outside the box, we are really providing optimal climate conditions.”
Earlier this week Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Abraham Al Khalifa,, said “the matter is resolved.” He warmed to the idea of playing in the local winter, preferably in November and December. Sheikh Salman heads the FIFA task force charged with investigating potential dates.
“There is a meeting of the task force on the 24th of February,” said Al-Khater. “What we understand is that a final decision will be recommended during that meeting. It’s the last meeting of the task force to discuss a winter or a summer World Cup.”
Then came the question of corruption and whether Qatar and Al-Khater were bothered by the common perception that Qatar won the right to host the World Cup in an unethical way. Last month FIFA declared that the long-awaited Garcia report will be published partially after revision. The report as summarized by judge Eckert cleared Qatar of any wrongdoing.
“It’s important to highlight it’s an investigation into the bidding process of 2018/2022, but also into individuals,” said Al-Khater. “Everyone coins it as an investigation into Qatar, which is absolutely false and incorrect. We are happy with judge Eckert’s conclusion. At times it was a bit harsh, but, you know this is a World Cup and you will always have criticism and negativity.”
“We would like to move on,” concluded Al-Khater.
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