The Arab world’s showpiece football tournament is underway in Qatar. The hosts inaugurated the competition, the tournament’s first edition to be held under FIFA’s jurisdiction, in a stunning fashion on Tuesday, opening two more stadiums for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
The tournament brings together teams and millions of football fans from across the Arab world and beyond. High-profile dignitaries from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Libya, Egypt, Somalia, Djibouti and other countries came to attend the opening ceremony of the competition. Football is the favourite sport for Arabs and the tournament has served as a platform to bring together all the Arabs and celebrate their passion for football. This was aptly summed up in the words of H H the Amir: All Arabs are welcome to the Doha of all Arabs.
The tournament will also serve as an occasion for Qatar to showcase its impeccable preparations and exciting plans for the mega football event next year. From gleaming stadiums to dozens of public festivals and tourist attractions, and from an efficient mass transit system to comprehensive security arrangements, the FIFA Arab Cup will show a glimpse into what the 2022 world cup would look like.
Qatar has inaugurated two new world cup venues, the tent-shaped Al Bayt Stadium and the FIFA World Cup history’s first fully-demountable 974 Stadium. With contractor works complete at Lusail Stadium, the venue for the final of the world cup, all eight world cup venues are ready a year ahead of the tournament.
A command and control centre for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 stadiums has also started working. The centre will control all IT and operational solutions of all the 2022 world cup stadiums. The command centre is connected to all the eight world cup stadiums, giving operators access to electronic facilities and aiding organisers in crowd control measures with its data analysis features. For the Arab Cup, the centre will work in infrastructure management and provide operational support for ground staff across the venues, and officials say following the tournament, the data extracted will help improve facilities and processes ahead of the world cup.
Qatar’s public transport system, comprising Doha Metro and a vast network of buses, is also ready to welcome fans and visitors and ferry them to and from stadiums. During the Arab Cup, Doha Metro and the associated Metrolink buses would be running until 3am daily.
