Another World Cup is here Again
Olurunfemi Praise
For those to whom this may be new to, The FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) World Cup, is a global international football competition. It is arguably the most prestigious sports organization in the world. The first FIFA World Cup was held 30th of July in 1930, in Uruguay, and was between Uruguay and Argentina (Uruguay won the first match by scoring a total of 4 goals while Argentina just had only 2 goals). A total of 21 World Cups have been played since 1930. This current World Cup, presently taking place in Qatar, is the 22nd occurrence of the tournament.
Notable Things about the World Cup Qatar 2022
This high temperature makes it near-unconducive for the participation of a number of outdoor sports, football not being an exception. Past world cup tournaments usually take place during the summer period. However, the case is different this time around, and this is because, during the summer period, Qatar’s temperature is about 43 °C, but during the winter period, Qatar’s temperature drops to about 20 °C. The total expense of hosting this year’s world cup is estimated at about $229B, making it the most expensive world cup to be organized in the history of the world cup, this is about 16 times more than what Russia spent on the last World Cup games, which was just $14B. Issues pertaining to human rights have been said to have risen around the construction work of the stadiums built for the games, in aspects of the living conditions the migrant labor workers were subjected to.
A Number Firsts
This year’s world cup is the first to be hosted in the Middle East and the second time to be held on the Asian continent. It is the first time a world cup will be played in a fully air-conditioned stadium for both spectators and players. This will be the first time this competition will take place during November and December, it has always been held mid-year since 1930 (92 years). Although the pricing tickets is priced at $69, the VIP tickets cost a whooping price of $2.6million for a total of 19 games out of the 64 games that will take place in the tournament. However, one interesting thing about these stadiums is that all but one, which is the Ahmad-Bin-Ali stadium, are detachable stadiums, and according to the Qataris, some of this infrastructure would be given out to third-world developing countries after the world cup tournament.
Below is a list of 8 stadiums for the world cup:
1. Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium
City: Al Rayyan
Date opened: December 18, 2020
Cost: $360m
Capacity: 40,000.
2. Al Bayt Stadium
City: Al Khor
Date opened: November 30, 2021
Cost: $847m
Capacity: 60,000.
3. Al Janoub Stadium
City: Al Wakrah
Date opened: May 16, 2019
Cost: $572m
Capacity: 40,000
4. Al Thumama Stadium
City: Al Thumama
Date opened: October 22, 2021
Cost: $342m
Capacity: 40,000
5. Education City Stadium
City: Al Rayyan
Date opened: June 2020
Cost: $700m
Capacity: 40,000
6. Khalifa International Stadium
City: Al Rayyan
Date re-opened: May 2017
Cost: $78-315m
Capacity: 40,000
7. Lusail Stadium
City: Lusail City
Date opened: 2022
Cost: $767m
Capacity: 80,000
8. Stadium 974
City: Ras Abu Aboud
Date opened: November 30, 2021
Cost: Unknown
Capacity: 40,000
