Doha, Qatar
CNN
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There have been 21 times the Men’s World Cup has been hosted since its opening in 1930 but Qatar 2022 is considered a tournament unlike any other.
Since it was announced as the host city nearly 12 years ago, it has always been destined to be the first World Cup.
From extreme weather to tournament premieres, CNN takes a look at the ways this year’s competition will forge new breakthroughs.
This will be the first time the Qatar men’s national team has entered a World Cup final, having previously failed to qualify in the usual ways.
FIFA, the sport’s governing body, allows a country to host the World Cup without having to go through the qualifiers, which means the tiny Gulf nation can now freely Test your strength against the strongest teams in the world.
Qatar is relatively new to the sport, having only played its first official match in 1970, but the country has indulged in beautiful matches and the national team has continuously improved.
In 2004, Aspire Academy was established with the hope of finding and developing all of Qatar’s most talented athletes.
In recent years, that has paid off a lot for their soccer team. Qatar won the Asian Cup in 2019, ending one of the most memorable matches in the tournament’s history, conceding only one goal throughout the tournament.
70% of the team that won the title went through the academy, and that number only increased when it came to the World Cup.
Coached by Spain coach Felix Sanchez, Qatar will look to surprise everyone and face a relatively good group, alongside Ecuador, Senegal and the Netherlands.
The World Cup is always held in May, June or July but Qatar 2022 will break that tradition – more than it should be.
Temperatures in Qatar can reach over 40 degrees Celsius during those months, so, with this in mind, the tournament has been moved to a cooler time.
However, winter in Qatar is a relative term with temperatures likely to remain around 30 degrees, but organizers hope to combat the heat with a variety of methods, such as high-tech cooling systems. in stadiums.
The change in competition dates has wreaked havoc on some of the biggest domestic leagues in the world.
All of Europe’s top leagues have winter breaks in their schedules, which means a packed schedule of pre- and post-tournament fixtures.
One of FIFA’s justifications for awarding the right to host Qatar is the possibility of bringing the tournament to a new region of the world.
None of the previous 21 World Cups have been held in a Muslim country and this month’s tournament will be an opportunity for the region to celebrate the growing love for the sport.
However, it certainly poses some problems that the organizers have to deal with. For many fans, drinking has been and will continue to be an important part of the experience of such tournaments.
However, in Qatar, it is illegal to get drunk in public, which has forced the organizers to come up with creative ways to tackle the problem.
As a result, alcohol will only be served at designated fan parks around Doha and there will be separate areas for fans to sober up before and after the game.
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Another question surrounding the tournament is how the country can cope with an expected influx of visitors of up to one million, as it is the smallest country to host the World Cup, with a population of just under three million people.
As a result, all eight stadiums are located in and around the capital, Doha, and are all within an hour’s drive of each other.
Organizers say tourism infrastructure – including buses, subways and car rental services – will be able to cope with the increased pressure.
One benefit of the small distance between venues is that fans will be able to watch up to two matches in one day. Traffic should be kind.
Due to its size, Qatar also has to be smart with its accommodation. Two cruise ships, MSC Poesia and MSC World Europa, are moored in Doha to provide some assistance to hotels.
Both ships will offer the usual cruise ship experience, but fans won’t sail further than the 10-minute shuttle bus ride into central Doha.
For fans prone to seasickness, the organizers have also built three ‘Fan Villages’ to provide accommodation on the outskirts of the city.
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These include a variety of accommodation – including caravans, garages and even camping experiences – and are all within reasonable distance of the sites.
Also, for those who can afford it a bit more, there are luxury yachts docked in Doha that can provide sleeping accommodations for, let’s face it, exorbitant prices.
FIFA has pledged to make Qatar 2022 the first carbon-neutral World Cup, as football’s world governing body continues its commitment to making the sport more environmentally friendly.
The country, along with Qatar, has committed to offsetting its carbon emissions by investing in green projects and purchasing carbon credits – a common method used by businesses to “eliminate” the impact of carbon emissions. carbon footprint.
Qatar, the world’s largest per capita emitter of carbon dioxide, says it will keep emissions low and remove as much carbon from the atmosphere as the league generates by investing in greenhouse gas recovery project.
For example, it will seed the world’s largest grass farm by planting 679,000 bushes and 16,000 trees.
The plants will be located in stadiums and other places around the country and are expected to absorb thousands of tons of carbon from the atmosphere each year.
However, critics have accused organizers of “boycotting” the event – a term used to refer to those who try to cover up their damage to the environment and climate with initiatives. green false, misleading or exaggerated.
Carbon Market Watch (CMW), a nonprofit advocacy group specializing in carbon pricing, says Qatar’s calculations are vastly underestimated.
Qatar 2022 will also see female referees directing a men’s match at the World Cup for the first time.
Yamashita Yoshimi, Salima Mukansanga and Stephanie Frappart were all named among the 36 officials selected for the tournament.
They will be joined by Neuza Back, American Karen Diaz Medina and Kathryn Nesbitt, who will be traveling to the Gulf nation as assistants.
Frappart is arguably the most famous name on the list after she made her name in the history books in 2020 when she became the first woman to referee a men’s Champions League match.
But wanting to learn from her in Qatar is Rwanda’s Mukansanga, who told CNN she’s excited to take on the challenge of refereeing at a major tournament.
“I will see what the referees are doing, just to copy the best they are doing, so that one day I will be in a World Cup like this,” she said, adding that the family She is very eager to see. take her out on the field.
It has yet to be decided when the women will referee their first match at the tournament, but there will be some new rules to be enforced.
For the first time, teams will be able to use up to five substitutes, and managers can now choose from a team of 26 players, instead of the usual 23.
Qatar 2022 will begin on November 20. You can follow CNN’s World Cup coverage here.
