“The 2022 FIFA World Cup dates back to dreams in the 1980’s” – Former Deputy Prime Minister 

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Accra-Ghana, Nov. 14, GNA – Mr. Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah former Deputy Prime Minister of Qatar, has said the 2022 FIFA World Cup had its roots in a dream in the early 1980.
Mr. Al Attiyah recalled Qatar’s hosting of the Asian Cup, as per the father Amir’s evergreen wish to host international sports tournaments. The country was apparently in a deep economic crisis, having difficulty in finding funding to host the tournament.
The former Deputy Prime Minister who is known for pioneering in energy and science industries, given his various ministerial roles since 1972, said “I considered it a dream, and told the Father Amir at the time, may God protect him, that this is a dream everyone wishes for, but I do not think that we would reach it,” he told the penisularqatar.com.
For his part, Al Attiyah was aware that for the most important and largest tournament in the world, there must be an integrated system comprising of stadiums, hotels, an underground network, a deeply embedded infrastructure as well as a network of flights to connect the country with the world – and Qatar at the time had only two five-star hotels.
The dream had its roots in the early 80s, where the senior official recalls Qatar’s hosting of the Asian Cup, as per the father Amir’s evergreen wish to host international sports tournaments.
The country was apparently in a deep economic crisis, having difficulty in finding funding to host the tournament.
“There was little interest at the time in the AFC championship, because the global situation in that period did not put any interest in it, and major American and European companies were not interested in a championship that had no reward. Television broadcast was also not interested in buying the rights to a championship that did not have a great return, as well as large Asian countries such as Japan or India and others, football did not have that value, but rather had interests in other games such as baseball and cricket. And so we faced a challenge,” the former deputy prime minister said.
It was these challenges, according to Al Attiyah that further encouraged Qatar’s statesmen to develop the country and set particular goals for its improvement, in order to be ready to host the World Cup – one day.
Al Attiyah reaffirmed the slogan that Qatari officials have repeated continuously to he press over the past decade, that Qatar “welcomes everyone and treats everyone with humane and ethical treatment without any abuse,” adding that he is proud that his country is hosting the World Cup, which has had a significant impact on the development of the country’s infrastructure and superstructure.
The former deputy prime minister finally noted that his country has played a “very important role in spreading peace around the world,” having a sizeable role in ending wars that lasted for years, such as that in Afghanistan”.