Doha: Qatar set a world record by hosting 77 international football matches in a centralised format in 2020.
Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy said in a tweet that three FIFA Qatar World Cup 2022 venues hosted a record 55 matches between September 14 and December 19, 2020.
Education City Stadium hosted 23 matches, Al Janoub Stadium 20 matches and Khalifa International Stadium 12 matches.
Set to host the first FIFA World Cup in the Middle East and the Arab world in just under two years’ time, Qatar continues to host events in the build-up to the tournament to test venue readiness, tournament operations and to fine tune the country’s fan experience offering. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, these events have taken on a new dimension: ensuring the safety, health and wellbeing of all participants.
Over the last three months alone, Qatar has hosted Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League West and East matches, including the final itself, as well the Amir Cup Final, Qatar’s most prestigious cup competition. For the return of Asia’s premier footballing club competition, more than 900 players and staff from 30 teams played in a total of 76 matches, all staged across multiple FIFA World Cup venues. It constituted the largest bubble-to-bubble sporting event since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The success of the initial West and East group stages of the competition, which marked the return of continental football to Asia but was played without fans, helped organisers prepare for the Amir Cup Final 2020 and the AFC Champions League Final, which saw the safe attendance of more than 12,000 and 10,000 fans respectively.
The Amir Cup Final 2020 also marked the inauguration of Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, the fourth FIFA World Cup stadium to be inaugurated prior to the tournament kick-off which is set for November 21, 2022.
