Qatar to jab FIFA 2022 showpiece visitors

Article posted by Coliseum, April 20^th, 2021

Image: SC 2022

HE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani of Qatar – while speaking at the 2021 virtual Raisina Dialogue – informed that Qatar will provide vaccine to all 2022 FIFA World Cup™ visitors as a precautionary measure against the deadly coronavirus which still has the world caught in its vicious cycle.

The ‘Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ quoted Al-Thani as stating, “Qatar is well prepared to demonstrate to the world that we can host such an event (2022 World Cup) and have it hopefully in-person and this is our plan from the beginning. The Qatar World Cup will be a great opportunity for the world as the first happy event that will take place after the novel coronavirus pandemic and isolation.”

The 2022 FIFA World Cup™ is scheduled to be the 22^nd edition of the FIFA World Cup™, the quadrennial international men’s association football championship contested by the national teams of the member-associations of FIFA. It is scheduled to take place in Qatar from November 21^st to December 18^th, 2022.

Apply for membership

The Raisina Dialogue is a multilateral conference held annually in New Delhi, India. Since its inception in 2016, the conference has emerged as India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-economics. The conference is hosted by the Observer Research Foundation, an independent think tank, in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs of India. The conference is structured as a multistakeholder, cross-sectoral discussion, involving a variety of global policymakers including heads of State, Cabinet Ministers and local Government officials.

The ‘Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ stated that further speaking at the 2021 Raisina Dialogue, he informed, “We have been negotiating and talking to the vaccination providers on how we can make sure that everyone attending the World Cup is vaccinated. Right now, there are programs under development to provide vaccination to all the attendees of the World Cup. We will be able, hopefully, to host a COVID-free event. We also hope that globally the pandemic will start to go down and disappear.”

The Foreign Minister underlined that Qatar, from the beginning, wanted to make sure, even with the continuation of the COVID crush, to know how to host a successful World Cup with a physical presence so that people could attend and enjoy the event.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has expressed his confidence that the FIFA World Cup 2022™ will witness stadia full of football-loving spectators.

The FIFA boss told a virtual meeting in Geneva, “I am very, very confident [the event] will be incredible, will have the same magic, uniting the world…we will be back to where we have to be.”

He also added that measures to contain the coronavirus will need to be taken during the 2022 FIFA spectacle.

Infantino has previously suggested that FIFA could “concretely” help traveling fans from countries with patchy vaccine rollouts to safely attend the event extraordinaire.

Al Thani added that Qatar has built one of the largest carbon storage facilities in the region, and believes that the FIFA World Cup 2022™ will be the first carbon-neutral world event.

As of now, more than 1,225,110 vaccine doses have been administered as part of the nationwide inoculation drive in Qatar.

Presently, Qatar has 22,124 active COVID-19 cases and has recorded 376 deaths since the pandemic started last year. Though it is now grappling with a second coronavirus wave, Qatar boasts one of the world’s lowest mortality rates.

Continue to follow Coliseum for latest updates on venues business news. Coliseum is dedicated towards building the best global community of sports and entertainment venue executives and professionals creating better and more profitable venues.

Become a member of the only Global Sports Venue Alliance and connect with stadiums, arenas and experts from around the world. Apply for membership at coliseum-online.com/alliance and make use of the 365Coliseum Business.

Watch 250 member-exclusive videos with valuable tips for your venue