Cover Image: FIFA Secretary-General, Fatma Samoura

FIFA looks forward to an exciting time at the 2022 World Cup to be held in Qatar, said the FIFA Secretary-General, Fatma Samoura, after debriefing sessions with the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the 2018 FIFA World Cup held in Russia and top officials from the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) in Zurich.

“Our aim was to ensure that everything – achievements and challenges – is translated into constructive learnings for the future, knowing that not every single aspect from Russia 2018 will be applicable to Qatar 2022,” Samoura said in an article posted on www.fifa.com

“There are many ways to organise a fantastic FIFA World Cup: with Russia, we found one; and I have no doubt that Qatar will be an incredibly creative and remarkable host,” she added in the post.

Hassan Al Thawadi, Secretary - General of SC, said Qatar was moving ahead with its preparations to host the World Cup in 2022 and praised Russia for being an ‘inspiration’ for future FIFA World Cup hosts.

“The debriefing sessions shed further highlighted what made the 2018 FIFA World Cup such a fantastic event,” said Al Thawadi said. He went on to add: “The lessons we learned from this session and from our participation in observation programmes during the tournament will play an important role in our preparation for 2022. Russia set a very high standard for us to follow and their success serves as inspiration for us as we prepare for and look forward to hosting the Middle East’s first FIFA World Cup in four years’ time.

FIFA’s Chief Tournament and Events Officer, Colin Smith, said: “The debriefing was a great opportunity for key colleagues from the Russian LOC and FIFA to reunite and, with the benefit of hindsight, delve into the detail of the planning and delivery of the 2018 World Cup in order to assess the relevance of key learnings for Qatar. The debriefing marked the closure of one chapter and passed the operational baton to Qatar where preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup are already in full swing.”

FIFA’s official website reported that the two-day debriefing started with a general introductory session, followed by focus groups that highlighted best practices and lessons learnt from areas such as infrastructure, venue management, volunteers, waste management, security, logistics and communications.

“We are very happy that the World Cup in Russia was globally acclaimed as a huge success,” Alexey Sorokin, the CEO of the 2018 FIFA World Cup LOC, said in his remarks.

“Not only did the event leave lasting bright and joyful memories for the fans from all around the world, but it has also already proved to be a catalyst for many positive changes in our country – in football, in terms of economics and also in the social realm,” Sorokin said.

In July FIFA President confirmed that said the 2022 tournament will begin on November 21 and continue until December 18.

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Nabeela

Content Writer

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