FIFA inspectors touch down in Qatar for final visit of tour

By Duncan Mackay in Doha
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year

September 14 – FIFA’s inspectors today begun the final visit of their tour of the countries campaigning for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups when they landed here to look at Qatar’s bid.

Among the first things they are due to be shown on their three-day stopover is a prototype climate-controlled stadium with Qatar officials acutely aware that the searing heat is among the biggest obstacle - along with the small size of the country – to their bid being successful when FIFA’s Executive Committee chooses the hosts for 2018 and 2022 at its meeting in Zurich on December 2.

Bid chairman Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, a member of the Qatari royal family, tried to tackle these issues head-on when addressing Harold Mayne-Nicholls, the President of the Chilean Football Federation, who is the head of the FIFA delegation, at an opening ceremony attended by more than 100 media representatives from around the world.

“We have been honest about our bid, honest about our stadiums, honest about the fact we will have no white elephants,” said Al Thani, as temperatures outside the air conditioned Four Seasons Hotel reached a sizzling 44 degrees.
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“We are being realistic about the need to meet FIFA requirements for the World Cup and also the Confederations Cup in 2021.

“We have been honest about our cooling technology system.

“It is now zero carbon and we have already proved the technology does work and we can cool stadiums and we are now proving we can do it in an environmentally friendly way.”

Sheikh Mohammed (pictured) acknowledged the hot weather was a challenge Qatar had to overcome.

“We will tackle it head on, our technology works and will be very successful,” he said.

Doha already has six state-of-the-art stadiums and more would be built in time for the finals.

The prototype stadium the delegates from FIFA are due to be shown today has a zero carbon footprint and will be the system used at every venue.

The solar-powered system is designed to continuously pump cool air into the venues, and Qatar Bid Committee chief executive Hassan al-Thawadi has claimed the technology can be expanded in the coming years to ensure that fan zones and training sites are also kept cool.

Another legacy of a Qatari World Cup would be that most of the stadiums could be dismantled after the tournament and shipped to developing countries to be rebuilt.

This is the final stop of the 11 countries that the FIFA delegation have visited inspecting the nine bidders, a tour that started back in Japan on July 19.

But Qatar is confident that what they see here will be unlike anything else they have encountered on their travels across three continents.

“We feel extremely confident that FIFA will enjoy learning about our plans for the World Cup” al-Thawadi said.

“We can say that every angle will be covered, from green technologies to infrastructure and accommodations to the legacy of greater understanding that a World Cup in Qatar will leave.

“This is a bid unlike any other, and we take the responsibility to our country and the entire region very seriously.”

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