Qatar at World Cup pinnacle after years of Mideast turmoil
A year after hosting the first-ever World Cup at the desert kingdom from May 29 through June 18, Qatar has reached a pinnacle. Its national side has already won the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia, the 2019 Gulf Cup, held in the United Arab Emirates and the 2019 African Cup of Nations, which was held in Cameroon.
This week the World Cup host Qatar is expected to announce what it hopes to be a major global economic impact on the country. “Our goal is to grow the economy of Qatar by 20 percent this year, reaching $300 million by 2024,” said the acting Prime Minister, Sheikh Khalid Bin Aqil Al-Attiya, in an interview with Saudi Gazette last week. He added, “We want to generate more jobs in the country, to increase our living standards and live standards among Qatari citizens.”
The World Cup has been a major financial success for Qatar, which will be hosting it for the next seven years. The event has netted the country $12 billion, said Qatar’s economy minister, Essam al-Thawadi. The total cost of the tournament was $6 billion.
Qatar has become a major global force in football, and is now one of the top five soccer governing bodies in the world, according to the 2018 FIFA report and Forbes’ “Top 20 World’s Most Valuable Sports Properties.” Qatar has been a FIFA reserve, but made a bid to host the 2022 World Cup in September, but it failed. The next most likely bidder is the United States, but it has said it will not bid for a World Cup in 2022.
The World Cup is helping Qatar build a national soccer infrastructure, the minister said. “In this World Cup, we have seen the establishment of new national and club teams, the establishment of a national youth development system, which has led to the creation of more than 4,000 young players who are now being introduced in Qatari football,” he said.
Qatar has also been on the rise in other sports, especially in equestrian sports. It has established a strong equestrian sport with the creation of the first equestrian world championship, which will take place in 2022. Qatar will also host the 2022 Asian Games, which will be the first time that the country will stage the
