Qatar 2022 World Cup: Bridging the Gulf through football

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  • He spearheaded the successful campaign to bring the World Cup to the Gulf region for the very first time and now Hassan Al Thawadi, the secretary general of the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, is already looking forward to the benefits that the monumental sporting event will bring to the region.

    Just like the 2010 South Africa World Cup was an unprecedented achievement for the African continent, Al Thawadi believes Qatar 2022 will be equally ground-breaking and will shed some light on what the Gulf has to offer.

    “Today the world understands the Middle East but not completely,” says Al Thawadi, who will be speaking at the Doha Goals Forum in Qatar on Tuesday.

    “Having the World Cup puts the spotlight on the Middle East today and as it gets closer to the World Cup, people start understanding the culture.

    "You take Germany 2006. Before that, people did not see Germany as a tourist destination, as a friendly, warm and welcoming place. Guess what? 2006 came and now the world looks at Germany and says ‘wow, that’s a great place to visit’.

    “South Africa 2010. People didn’t understand what South Africa was about. South Africa created a pride for Africa. People who came to South Africa to visit, then went to neighbouring countries, saw Africa as a viable destination for vacations.”

    Al Thawadi does not see the World Cup as a magical solution that can revolutionise the sports industry in the region and realises there is a lot that needs to be done in order to make real advances in the field.

    “It sheds light, it breaks away a lot of the stereotypes. But also if you look at more tangible elements – the sporting industry for our side is at a level of infancy, it’s developing, there are a lot of great initiatives like the Dubai Sports Council and so on, but it’s still at an early stage,” he says.

    “The World Cup is an opportunity, it’s a catalyst. I’m not saying it’s the solution. It’s the responsibility of Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Morocco, all these countries to make the most out of that. We have to work together to make sure the positive effects cascade into the entire region.”

    Al Thawadi believes that the Gulf is not the only region that can reap the rewards of Qatar 2022. He sees that holding a World Cup in the summer in Qatar, and making use of the state-of-the-art cooling systems that are to be implemented in fan zones, training grounds and stadiums, will prove that heat will no longer be an issue when it comes to hosting events in countries where temperatures are high.

    “It opens up the door to about two thirds of the world. Today when you look at the weather, effectively you’re forgetting two thirds of the nation. The cooling technology coming into place opens that up,” he says.

    Al Thawadi, who studied law at Sheffield University in the UK, explains how important it was to be innovative in their bid for the World Cup and how they managed to transform negatives into positives.

    He says: “From the very beginning, we knew that the Qatari bid had to offer a new vision to make it stand out. Everything we offered was a revolution in terms of how a World Cup is hosted. People saw our size as a barrier, but we turned it to our advantage and created a compact World Cup.

    "Visitors will see more than one game in a day without travelling by plane or changing their hotel. We offered something different. Of course you have to put the basics in place and the basics from our side were being put in place.

    "The transportation system was already being developed far before we decided to bid for the World Cup. The significant upgrade of the road infrastructure was already being considered. Some of the hotels were in the pipeline before the World Cup came.

    “So a lot of the requirements for the World Cup were there, they just required shifting your paradigm and branding yourself in a different way. We were the visionary choice. The innovative opportunities are there, the technological development is there, the commitment and the investment is there. Once all that is there, there are no obstacles too high to overcome.”

    Al Thawadi emphasises the importance of knowledge transfer and reveals that plans are in place to create centres of expertise to make sure locals can learn from international experts throughout the period leading up to Qatar 2022.

    He says: “Knowledge gap is an issue. For us, we saw the World Cup as an opportunity because it creates industries. We’re partnering with world experts, developing centres of experience and expertise within the region. Getting as much talented people from within the region to gain that experience, and bridge that knowledge gap will kick-start industries.

    “After the World Cup, the intention is the transfer of knowledge that has happened over the past 10 years in preparation to host the event will be the seed to develop a sporting industry that’s sustainable in itself.”

    CULTURAL AMBITION Qatar is the first Arab country to host the World Cup and aims to promote Islamic culture as well as reflect the development and economic growth in the region. The expenditure on construction leading up to 2022 is expected to top $50 billion.

    COMPACT PLAN Seven host cities within a 25km radius will stage the tournament. There will also be 22 modular stadia which can be dismantled and sent to emerging nations for use.

    GOING GREEN All the stadia will be climate-controlled and zero carbon-emitting. It will be a part of the Green Qatar 2022 plan.

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