DOHA: Qatar appointed some key members to its bid team for the 2022 World Cup yesterday.
The bid committee includes Qatar football association president and former national team star Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and Qatar Investment Authority legal department director Hassan Al-Thawadi.
Qatar is among 11 countries vying for the 2022 World Cup, and along with South Korea, only applied for the 2022 final tournament. The nine other candidates are bidding for either the 2018 or 2022 competitions: Japan, Mexico, the United States, Britain, Russia and joint bids from Spain and Portugal and Belgium and the Netherlands.
FIFA will announce the winners in December 2010.
Bid committee chairman Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani said that holding the tournament in the Middle East would help bridge divides between the West and the Arab world.
The event “would bring so many positive things ... including friendships and understandings between competitors and spectators that would extend far beyond the World Cup itself,” said Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the son of the emir of Qatar.
The small but wealthy Gulf nation has long used sports to try to boost its international profile, including hosting the Asian Games in 2006 and becoming a stop for several major tennis tournaments. Qatar will also host the 2011 Asian Cup football tournament.
But sports officials now could be taking more cautious approach across the Gulf after the United Arab Emirates last month refused a visa for an Israeli tennis player for a women’s tournament.
The Emirates later allowed in an Israeli to play in the men’s tournament after global outrage, but the incident raised worries about regional politics spilling over into sports.
“A World Cup in Qatar in 2022 would be the first global sports event to be hosted in the region,” Sheikh Mohammad said. “What could be more fitting than it being the world’s favorite game that achieves this truly historic status?”
