Qatar 2022 spellbinding success swoons fans

Article posted by Coliseum, December 20^th, 2022

Image: Coliseum GSVA

Qatar brought the curtain down on the World Cup on December 18^th after a dramatic final, highlighting the country’s influence on world soccer and defied doubts that it could host a global event of such magnitude.

‘Reuters’ stated that Argentina defeated France on penalties in a pulsating match dominated by two talismanic strikers who play their club soccer for a team owned by the Gulf Arab State that has earned huge wealth in recent decades from natural gas exports.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup™ was the 22^nd edition of the FIFA World Cup™, an international football tournament contested by the men’s national teams of FIFA’s member-associations. It took place in Qatar from November 20^th to December 18^th, 2022, making it the first World Cup held in the Arab world and Muslim world, and the second held entirely in Asia after the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan.

A capacity crowd of nearly 89,000 watched the spectacle in one of the several stadiums built specially in the country of just three million people, the first Arab country to host the tournament.

Qatari officials have been delighted by way the tournament panned out.

Said Qatar’s Ambassador to the United Nations Sheikh Alya al-Thani at a ceremony marking the handover to the 2026 hosts in North America, “The most important thing to remember is the World Cup transcends sports and it plays an exceptional role in uniting people and countries.”

‘Reuters’ further stated that 1.4 million people visited Qatar during the World Cup. That number is higher than pre-tournament estimates and a sharp jump on the one million reported two days earlier by Qatar’s World Cup authorities.

On the pitch, French striker Kylian Mbappe and Argentina’s Lionel Messi, who both plays for Doha-owned Paris Saint-Germain F.C. (French professional football club), shared five goals in the 3-3 draw, before Argentina triumphed 4-2 on penalties.

Mbappe won the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top scorer with eight goals. Argentina captain Messi, just one behind him with seven, was wrapped in a traditional Gulf cloak by Qatar’s ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani before Tamim handed him the World Cup trophy.

Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup was part of a careful strategy to elevate its global profile and influence.

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