After the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, the country will be hosting several major events and plans to bid again for the Olympics, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) Secretary-General HE Hassan al-Thawadi (pictured) said yesterday. He was speaking at Concordia Annual Summit in New York on the topic ‘FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: Legacy Initiatives Beyond the Tournament,’ in an interaction with sports journalist Reshmin Chowdhury.
“After 2022, we will be hosting several major sporting events. We will be hosting the 2030 Asian Games and we have expressed interest in hosting the Asian Football Cup 2023. And potentially we are going to be bidding again for the Olympics. Qatar is about to make history by hosting and making the upcoming World Cup a truly global event,” said al-Thawadi.
The SC official said that Qatar has already delivered a legacy in labour reforms by setting a global benchmark. “An action that has become a global benchmark is the recruitment fees. We have made all the recruitment firms to reimburse the fees charged from the workers for recruitment. The companies volunteered to pay the recruitment fees back, which is around $28mn, and out which $23mn has already been paid,” he highlighted.
Al-Thawadi also said that after the World Cup, most stadiums will be resized from 40,000 to 20,000 seats. “The biggest one, the Lusail Stadium, will not just remain as a stadium. The inside will be overhauled for another purpose to be announced later. Another stadium, made of containers, will be completed disassembled and will be a great contribution to sustainability and legacy of the tournament as well,” he added.
HE Hassan al-Thawadi
