Kuwait close to co-hosting ’22 World Cup with Qatar

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KUWAIT CITY, April 15: Kuwait informed FIFA President Gianni Infantino during his visit to Kuwait Saturday and Sunday on a preliminary agreement to co-host the 2022 world cup finals with Qatar, affirming readiness to provide all necessary facilities in case the final decision favors her.

Sources affirmed that FIFA President visited the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim, and Kuwait Football Association President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Yousef, and several relevant government and sports officials during the two-day visit.

He had the impression that Kuwait was actually ready to co-host the biennial event, while the country may officially announce its decision whether or not to hold it soon. The decision will have strong effect on the FIFA congress voting on the proposal to increase the number of participation to 32 to 48 teams, which is expected to happen during the May 5 meeting in Paris .

The same sources emphasized that Kuwait is capable of providing necessary facilities in terms of building and upgrading structures, in addition to logistic and technical procedures demanded by FIFA.  Co-hosting the event is seen as a golden opportunity to improve and upgrade sporting facilities, as well as elevate standard of Kuwaiti sports and players generally in a way that will put the name of Kuwait in the world map of global sport.

Meanwhile, information gathered indicates that Qatar is proposing an alternative of introducing the possibility of including Turkey in hosting of the tournament in case Kuwait rejects the offer like Oman. It was reported that suggesting Turkey will rescue the situation in favor of Doha. It further revealed that bringing Turkey into the picture is as a result of the boycott against Qatar by Saudi Arabia and UAE on one hand and strong tie between Doha and Ankara that has been involved in building sporting facilities and establishing military base in Qatar.

Salem Al-Wawan

Al Seyyasah Staff

This news has been read 22052 times!