October 24 – Qatar 2022 World Cup infrastructure was given a flying inspection visit by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, en route to the FIFA Council meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, later this week.
Visiting the Al Wakrah Stadium he became one of the first people to travel on the new Doha Metro, which will open to the public before the end of the year. The journey from the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre (DECC), in West Bay, to Al Wakrah, took approximately 20 minutes.
Infantino then took a helicopter ride to view the other seven proposed tournament venues, as well as several training sites.
Talking about the 40,000 capacity Al Wakrah Stadium he said: “The stadium is very impressive. When you enter here you can immediately feel how imposing it is, and you can see the progress which is being made here four years before kick-off.”
Qatar launched its first tournament-ready venue, Khalifa International Stadium, in May 2017. The other venues, including the 80,000-capacity Lusail Stadium, which will host the opening match and final in 2022, are all scheduled to be completed by 2020.
Talking about 2022, Infantino said the tournament had massive potential to break down cultural barriers.
“I think this World Cup is extremely important, not only for Qatar but for the whole region. This World Cup is a unique opportunity – a chance to show the world what this region can offer; for football, but also for anybody in the world to come and visit a beautiful place, learn about a new culture and meet new people,” he said.
“There are many lessons we can learn from Russia. The first one is how to welcome so many people – 1.5 million people headed to Russia to enjoy the World Cup and they were all welcomed in a way that was unexpected to many. There were many fears about Russia, but it turned out to be a very safe World Cup, a very welcoming World Cup, in a country that made fans feel good. The whole population contributed to that and I’m sure the same will happen here in Qatar. The Russian World Cup has been the best ever but the World Cup in 2022 in Qatar – I am sure – will be even better.”
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