FIFA President recognizes Qatar's poor ability to host World Cup

Citizen – Mahmoud Nabil – Cairo:

FIFA World Cup President Gianni Infantino has acknowledged the difficulty of organizing the World Cup with his new 48-team system in Qatar, which requires help from neighboring Doha in the Gulf region. .

The FIFA president said FIFA was exploring the possibility of hosting some of the Gulf countries at the 2022 World Cup, which was to be held in full in Qatar.

Speaking at a sports conference in Dubai, Infantino also said that FIFA was planning to extend the World Cup to 48 teams, adding that he "was working to overcome political differences. by football ".

The FIFA President said the 48-team system has been a success in recent years in many countries that he believes will provide a wonderful version of the World Cup.

The low natural potential of Qatar is an obstacle to the possibility of implementing this system in the coming period, especially given Doha's refusal to organize the tournament in this system due to lack of capacity and capacity. capabilities needed for that.

Gianni Infantino said that the decision to transfer some of the 2022 World Cup matches organized by Qatar to his territory was not necessary for consultations with the host country, noting that the decision to determine the organization of a party of the World Cup outside Qatar only concerned FIFA.

The FIFA president has attempted to rally his idea by adding 16 more teams to the 2022 tournament – an initiative that might require the participation of a small host of neighboring countries to host the tournament.

Infantino has already admitted the difficulty of hosting 48 teams in Qatar, which has only eight World Cup qualifying stadia, which is contrary to statements by Doha officials who said their country was ready.