2024-01-22T16:41:34+00:00
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/ The Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Asian Cup in Football, Qatari Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, was surprised on Monday by the public attendance at the tournament, stressing that it exceeded all expectations, as he put it.
Sheikh Hamad, former president of the Qatar Football Association, who was appointed Minister of Sports in his country this month, said during a meeting with journalists, “Frankly, the public attendance exceeded all expectations, which is something we did not imagine,” revealing that ticket sales exceeded “one million two hundred thousand tickets and matches have been watched so far.” 620 thousand spectators.
He considered that the huge public turnout was due to “several factors, most notably the large number of participating teams’ communities, especially the Arab ones, and the modernity of the stadiums that hosted the Qatar World Cup matches made the public yearn to follow the competitions in elegant stadiums,” revealing that all tickets for the Qatar and Palestine matches were sold out. Completely.
He continued, “Another factor that also contributed was the ease of transportation with the metro, which can transport thousands of people very quickly to the event location.”
Regarding the difference between organizing the 2022 World Cup and the Asian Cup, he said, “We set the same high standards, and most of the people who supervised the conduct of the World Cup operations are themselves present in the continental tournament, and therefore we made no distinction at all between the two tournaments.”
From November 21 to December 18, 2022, Qatar hosted the World Cup, becoming the first Arab country to win this honor.
He revealed that the Arab Cup is continuing and will be organized again in a new format in cooperation between the International Federation (FIFA) and the Arab Football Federation.
He considered that after the successes achieved by Qatar by hosting many global and continental championships, the biggest dream remains to host the Olympic Games. He said, “We have previously been nominated to host the Games in recent years, and we have the intention to apply again.”
He continued, “There is no doubt that the successes we have achieved in organizing more than one world championship and in more than one sport in recent years have made us aim to organize the Olympic Games in the future.”
The next Olympic Games will be held in Paris in the summer of 2024, followed by Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane, Australia in 2032.
He considered that the Gulf region as a whole has proven that it has the potential to host the largest sporting events, and noted Saudi Arabia, which will host the Asian Cup in 2027 and will most likely organize the World Cup in 2034.
Regarding the possibility of some Gulf countries hosting the 2034 World Cup matches, he said, “The right holders have the right to decide whether this matter is possible or not according to the legal regulations of the World Cup.”
Three countries will organize the 2026 World Cup: the United States, Canada and Mexico, then three countries will organize the 2030 World Cup: Spain, Portugal and Morocco, in addition to some matches in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. Saudi Arabia is the only candidate to host the 2034 World Cup.