Holding the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is a “done deal”, a confident head of the tournament organising committee said yesterday.
Hassan al-Thawadi, secretary-general of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), told a local Arabic daily that football’s biggest tournament will go ahead in the Middle East.
“The 2022 World Cup will be held in Qatar, the first in a Middle Eastern, Arab and Muslim country,” al-Thawadi told the Al-Sharq newspaper.
“It is a done deal.”
He added that World Cup organisers in the Gulf had a “generally positive” relationship with FIFA, football’s governing body.
A Swiss legal team is investigating the bidding process for the 2022 World Cup and the 2018 tournament in Russia.
Al-Thawadi told the Al-Sharq newspaper that Qatar had nothing to fear. “I am totally confident our file is clean,” he said.
Al-Thawadi also tackled the issue of venue numbers and said organisers would like to see eight stadiums used during the 2022 World Cup.
FIFA told AFP last week that a final decision on the number of venues had been pushed back until next year at the earliest.
Qatar’s successful bid for the tournament allowed for up to 12 stadiums to be used in 2022.
“We are confident that we will not be asked to implement 12 stadiums,” he said. “We feel that eight stadiums is enough for Qatar.”
So far, Qatar has said it will spend up to $10bn on stadium construction.
