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Qatar is to stage the 2022 World Cup, becoming the the first ever Muslim and Arab country to host the cup.
The dramatic announcement was made by FIFA President Sepp Blatter on Thursday night, after beating off bids from Japan/Korea, Australia and the USA.
Australia had been favourites, with concerns over hosting the event during the summer in Qatar. However the country has promised to build a number of air conditioned soccer stadiums.
There was also disappointment for England after the 2018 World Cup went to Russia.
Earlier, Prince William, David Beckham and UK Prime Minister David Cameron had visited Zurich to try and persuade FIFA delegates to back the English bid, and many experts believed England would win the bid.
Qatar’s bid relies on a well-compiled 750-page dossier handed to FIFA officials earlier this year by Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the chairman of the Qatar 2022 Bid Committee.
The dossier contained detailed plans of Doha’s bid, including plans to build or redevelop a total of 12 football stadiums. As the tournament is held over summer, Qatar plans to cool each of the stadiums with massive air-conditioning units to maintain a temperature of 28 degrees even on the hottest days.
The flagship development will be Qatar’s Al Rayyan stadium, situated 20 km northwest of the capital, Doha. The plan is to adapt the structure and surround the building with a screen which will show match updates, tournament information and other material. Another existing stadium, the Al Gharafa will also be redeveloped.
Another temporary stadium will be built in the marina and will use sea water, pumped over the exterior walls and the roof, to help cool the building. IT will be dismantled later and the stadium seating shipped to Africa where it will be given to clubs or schools to use.
A six-member FIFA team visited Qatar in October to inspect the state. They also stopped in at Qatari Diar, the real estate arm of the Qatar Investment Authority, to see presentations on Qatar’s long-term development plans, which include a state-of-the-art high-speed rail and metro system linking the stadiums; the New Doha International Airport and Lusail City.
Lusail City is a 37km2 coastal development that, officials say, compliments the World Cup bid.
“The main attraction will be the waterfront development, which will stretch across 28 kilometres,” explained spokeman Magdy Yousef.
“There will also be one of the 12 stadiums proposed in Qatar’s World Cup bid,” he added. “There will be training fields as well as hotel rooms. But we will go ahead with the project whether or not Qatar wins the World Cup.”
While it will take more than 15 years for the railway project to complete, 70% of it will be ready by 2017, five years ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
All transportation networks will use environmentally-friendly technology and will allow Qatar to host the most compact World Cup in history, with no more than an hour travel time between stadiums, hotels and other attractions organisers say.
