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Express News Service
MOSCOW: The last act of the 2018 World Cup was held not at the Luzhniki stadium, but in the official residence of Vladimir Putin, the Great Kremlin Palace. There, FIFA President Gianni Infantino saw Putin take a Telstar Mechta – the match ball used in the knockout rounds – and hand it to Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar. As the curtains fell on Russia in 2018, the countdown began on Qatar 2022.
It was not the only time that the subject of the next World Cup arrived in Russia. It appeared briefly when Infantino announced at the beginning of June at the FIFA Congress that a resolution to increase the number of teams from 32 to 48 in 2022, sponsored by a group of 39, South American teams, had been abandoned. Anyone who walked along the banks of the Moskva River near Gorky Park, in the heart of Moscow, would have seen the Majlis Qatar, an exhibition and lounge set up by the 2022 team. And then, at his conference in World Cup closing press, Infantino revealed that the number of teams at the next World Cup has not been finalized, which seemed to complicate matters for Qatar. How do you prepare for a World Cup when you do not know how many teams you have to host?
Sitting in his living room inside the Majlis Qatar, Nbader Al Khater seems relaxed. The deputy director general of the local organizing committee of 2022 says that uncertainty does not worry him. "We are very happy that the final decision remains with Qatar," he said. "We are open – we do not want to make any decisions now – we do not understand what would be the format of a 48-team World Cup – all I can say now is wait for it." 39, a feasibility study, let's wait for the consultation process, then we'll make a decision, all that's good for Qatar, we'll do it. "
" We had planned a 32-team World Cup.
One of the issues raised during the World Cup award in Qatar was whether the country of its size – it is slightly larger than Jamaica – could accommodate more than a year. 39 million fans to compete at World Cups. A team competition of 48 would take this issue further to the center and there have been suggestions that the move is designed to force Qatar to share the hosting rights for the tournament. He has also been linked to neighbors of Saudi Arabia who recently cut off diplomatic ties and imposed an embargo. Al Khater, however, is of the opinion that the issue of co-hosting is for potential co-hosts to respond (they have four years left, he says) and that the blockade would have no effect on the plans of the World Cup. The size of Qatar would not be a problem either.
"We made our estimates for more than a million people," he says. "We have taken a look at the accommodation available and what is planned.We believe that the accommodation inventory we will have by 2022 will be sufficient because we look at hotels of different sizes and furnished apartments that are available, we look at temporary solutions such as floating hotels and cruise ships, and fans can even pitch their own tents under the desert sky – many fans will want because it fits their budget and will be a unique experience. "
And even if there are still four years, Qatar has set itself the goal of finishing all preparations in two. "We finished a stadium – the Khalifa International Stadium," says Al Khater. "Two more stadiums will be completed by the end of the year, a stadium over the next year, and by 2020, all stadiums will be completed. The road infrastructure will also be completed by 2020. The subway will begin operational testing by the end of 2018. We are maintaining a good two year period as a buffer zone to test all our facilities. "
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