Russia 2018: The last stop before football’s quadrennial showpiece event in Qatar
Eight years after Qatar was awarded hosting rights of the 2022 FIFA World Cup as the first Arab country to get such an honour, different state bodies, led by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), continue to work hard to ensure a historic championship through stadia and infrastructure projects.
Efforts are also on to draw plans and strategies to overcome obstacles and achieve success.
As part of its efforts to provide a unique experience to fans in 2022, SC has been organising a monitoring programme since 2010 — which started with the South Africa finals and continued in Brazil finals in 2014, EURO 2016 and the 2018 Russia finals, which begins in a few days.
In just four years, Qatar is set to go through the same experience.
And the SC has been working hard together with its partners — the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Kahramaa, Ashghal, Qatar Real, Qatar Tourism Authority, Qatar Foundation, Qatar Football Association, Qatar Stars League, Qatar Olympic Committee, Aspire Zone, Qatar Museums and Doha Film Institute — to make it a grand success.
The monitoring programme comprises 180 persons who visit different host cities, some of whom are part of the local organising committee and FIFA teams.
SC Assistant Secretary General Nasser Al Khater said the programme aims to benefit from the experiments of host nations in order to learn from their experiences and knowledge to Qatar and develop capacities of Qatari cadres who will participate in hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup or those who work in the sporting sector and event organization in general.
Speaking to QNA, Al Khater said that the Qatari delegation will learn about the different aspects of organising the World Cup in Russia, starting with operations at the stadiums, organizing transportation, security, entry and exit, fan movement, and facility and hotel management.
As the host nation of the next World Cup in 2022, Qatar will be present in Russia through a pavilion to promote the different tourism and cultural sites in Qatar and the experiences that await the visitors in four years.
In addition, a World Cup memorabilia museum will be held in one of the biggest shopping malls in Moscow. The museum will include prominent historic memorabilia that belong to Qatari engineer and cartoonist Mohamed Abdullatif in addition to some of the collectibles of former Al Rayyan player Ali Al Ali, who is also president of former footballers’ committee.
Al Khater said the pavilion aims to market Qatar as the hosting country and an international destination for sports and tourism, in addition to introducing the Qatari culture to visitors.
He added that the success of the monitoring program in Russia will play a vital role in benefiting from the experiences of the hosting country in order to ensure a historical event that takes place for the first time in the region and Arab world.
The Qatari delegation at the Russia World Cup has three different tasks.
The first task is concerned with monitoring and aims to learn about the work progress at host cities including transportation, roads and security. The second task includes an awareness and services operation for fans in order to promote and introduce the Qatar World Cup through small outlets in the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg and give the public an idea about Doha and an overview of what the 2022 World Cup has to offer.
The third task is responsible for the activities taking place on the sidelines of the World Cup, most prominently the pavilion that aims to provide the audience with Qatar’s touristic and cultural destinations, in addition to the World Cup finals’ museum, which will be held in one of the famous hotels in Moscow’s Red Square in cooperation with the Qatari artist Mohamed Abdullatif.
Source: Qatar News Agency
