Qatar’s bid to host a soccer World Cup at a time of year when temperatures are baking is brave, but the Gulf state is counting on high technology to overcome the potentially prickly problem.
Qatar has emerged as a serious contender for the 2022 World Cup, with a seemingly limitless budget and ambitious plans to drastically improve its poor transport network.
Importantly, with Brazil hosting the 2014 World Cup, FIFA’s policy of continental rotation will likely see the 2018 edition going to Europe and the race for 2022 coming down to bids from Asia and North America.
PHOTO: AFP
However, temperatures can hit 41°C in June and July in Qatar, with that rising even higher in full sun and in built-up areas where thousands of air-conditioning units pump out hot air as they cool buildings’ interiors.
Having lost out in its bid to host the 2016 Olympic Summer Games after International Olympic Committee members rebuffed Qatar’s idea to move the Games to October to avoid the worst of the summer heat, research is now under way on some ground-breaking ideas.
“Currently, we are researching various cooling methods which are environmentally friendly and very effective,” Qatar 2022 chief executive officer Hassan al-Thawadi said. “We’ll be unveiling a number of visionary, state-of-the-art ideas for iconic stadia and infrastructure and we’re very excited by the challenge.”
Gabriel Batistuta, the Argentinian striker who finished his career with Al-Arabi in Qatar, is a bid ambassador along with a host of former world-renowned soccer players.
“I would not be doing this job if I did not believe Qatar can really host the World Cup finals,” he said, quoted by the Qatar National Olympic Committee’s magazine.
“As for weaknesses, some people have suggested that the weather in summer could have been a potential stumbling block, but the Qataris are developing an amazing cooling system to combat the heat,” Batistuta said.
“If we have regulated temperatures inside stadia it helps everyone involved — from players to fans,” he said, referring to the extreme heat he encountered when playing in the 1994 World Cup in the US.
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