Khalid Tawalbeh
Doha
With the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 barely a month away, the grand preparations made by the host country for the mega event – the first for the Middle East and the Arab World – left residents, visitors and fans in awe.
The World Cup frenzy has taken over the streets of Qatar with the public places and Doha Corniche all decked up for the football extravaganza. Several entities and institutions are working 24X7 to guarantee a safer event that the masses adore.
Speaking to Qatar Tribune, residents and visitors expressed their admiration for these preparations with Qatar witnessing scientific, industrial, economic and sports renaissance since winning the hosting rights for the World Cup.
Dr Musa Ramadan, a representative of the Jordanian community in Qatar, said: “This World Cup will be an unparalleled edition throughout the history. Facilities and events will be interconnected in a way that ensures the preservation of the environment. The experience of each fan will be planned according to his wishes and what he likes.”
“Fans can cheer on their favourite team at Al Janoub Stadium south of Doha in a match that will take place during the afternoon, they will then join the excitement in another match to be held at Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor City, north of Qatar, on the same evening, in a hassle-free movement,” he added.
Dr Musa Ramadan highlighted the role played by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy for overseeing the planning processes and the operations of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, to guarantee a safe and smooth experience.
Sayyed Ali Hamza, a member of the Sudanese community in Qatar, expressed his great happiness with the preparations made by Qatar.
“Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup is a source of pride for all Arabs and Muslims,” he said, pointing to the importance of the proximity of distances that characterizes the championship, as well as the timing of holding its competitions in November and December.
Hamza said, “Qatar’s readiness for the world football festival, and the tremendous efforts it has made to receive fans from around the world, is truly amazing, and deserves praise from everyone.”
“Having been briefed as an architect on the plans and arrangements related to all aspects of the tournament, such as the ease of movement of fans during the competitions, I became sure that this edition of the World Cup will be special,” he said.
He added that the World Cup in this edition will be the best ever, due to many factors especially for being held in the middle of the sports season in the world, where all the players are at the highest levels of sports performance, unlike previous tournaments that were organised at the end of the season.
He said the World Cup is an opportunity for Qatar and the entire Middle East region to promote itself in the field of sports in front of the world.
Darren Shamith, a resident from the Indian community in Qatar, was not surprised by the high level of demand for World Cup tickets, which reached more than 23 million ticket requests, explaining that this happened because of the keenness of Qatar that the tickets for the World Cup should be at a lower price than past editions.
Shamith applauded the technological means introduced by Qatar into the stadiums, through cooling the stadiums and easy access to them, as well as the wonderful sports infrastructure, the transportation network connecting various parts of the country to the stadiums.
“The Qatar World Cup will be very different, starting from the date of organizing the tournament, passing through the technology used in it, and ending with the good stadiums prepared by Qatar, which were ready to host the event a year before the tournament”.
For his part, American Silvio Adams, who works in Qatar as an educational consultant, stressed that through his work for more than seven years, he felt how different Qatar is from many countries in the respect for rights and safe coexistence.
He stressed that this edition of the World Cup, which came after great preparations and through a comprehensive renaissance educationally, economically and technologically, and not only at the level of stadium construction, will be the most beautiful at all and indisputably.
Adams said he joined the Qatar national team fans club at Aspire Academy and will be inside the stadiums following this tournament enthusiastically.
Fido Hector, a construction engineer from the Filipino community, described the idea of Qatar to dismantle the 974 Stadium in Ras Abu Aboud area after the end of the World Cup and parts of other stadiums in the tournament and donate them to poor countries as “wonderful”.
He pointed out that the facilities of the previous tournaments remained mostly unused after the end of the tournaments, but Qatar’s proposed dismantling of some of these facilities is an innovative idea that establishes the principle of legacy that it has put forward since its success in hosting the tournament.
He stressed that the step of Qatar to host the 2021 Qatar Arab Cup last year, with the use of all the facilities for the World Cup, is a very good step.
