The Qatar World Cup: Everything You Need To Know

It is common knowledge among soccer (more commonly known as football) fans that this week is the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. So today, I’m going to run you through everything about this world cup.

So let’s first lay out the facts. FIFA is the international governing body of association football. FIFA organizes a World Cup every four years, a colossal event for football fans and the hosting country. Qatar got chosen by FIFA’s executive committee back in 2010 to host the 2022 World Cup. Why would Qatar want to host this event? To understand that, let’s look at the background of this country.

The State of Qatar is a small country compared to others, like the United Kingdom, with roughly an area of 4,480 square miles. In comparison, Qatar is smaller than even the capital of China, Beijing, with Beijing’s area at about 6,340 square miles. However, because of its geographical location with lots of oil fields, this small country has a high Gross Domestic Product per Capita, making it one of the wealthiest countries in the world. But why would such a rich country want to host the World Cup?

The possibly most crucial reason for that question is that soon, oil and natural gas wouldn’t be the mainstream energy production driver, implying lowered profits from selling such resources. To the oil-rich Qatar, that isn’t a good stance in the long run, so the country has started investing in other sectors to keep its rich status even in a changing world. Part of that plan to maintain world status is to grab other countries’ attention. So if they could somehow host the World Cup, an important world event, Qatar would also get the spotlight they wanted.

However, the way that Qatar got to host the 2022 World Cup is very controversial. You see, there have been investigations since it was official for Qatar to host the event. Since then, investigators have found the majority of the executive committee got bribed. Nearly three-quarters of those FIFA executives have faced criminal charges. Allegedly, Qatari construction magnate Mohammed Bin Hamman, who was on the committee then, paid around $ 1 billion of illicit payments to other football federation officials.

Either way, even if Qatar did some shady stuff to get this World Cup, it is still quite impressive how much money they put into it. Qatar is estimated to have spent $220 billion on this year’s World Cup, by far the most expensive in the history of this event. It is about 15 times what Russia spent on the 2018 World Cup. Qatar built seven brand-new stadiums and countless hotels and largely renovated another stadium. But because the country’s population is small compared to the number of fans coming to the event, organizers rented a few gigantic cruise ships to act as hotel rooms. But even though the money spent is whopping, there are still some rules fans visiting need to remember.

The first is not to bring pork or pork-made products, drugs, alcohol, and some medicines into the country. That is because there is a strict limit on alcohol consumption in Qatar. The second rule is to always accept invitations from local people. Qataris are known to be kind and generous, and rejecting their invitations is considered against local culture. There are also dress codes that visitors should follow. In conclusion, not just during this World Cup but even when visiting the country, be respectful to the Qatar culture because violating them could land you in trouble.

Now let’s get back to the World Cup itself. Who would win it? More specifically, which team would win the Men’s Finals? Well, there is also a story to it. Back in 1998, France won the World Cup. However, strangely, these defending champions didn’t even make it out of the group stage in 2002. That got later known among fans as the World Cup Curse. That would continue to be the case every four years. And that comes back to this year’s World Cup. France won the one four years previous. So would the French team win the 2022 Cup too, and possibly put an end to this strange phenomenon? Do you think it’s a jinx, or is it something else?

Winning the World Cup is the thing that earns a team its prestigious title. However, there are some facts about the trophy itself that you probably didn’t know. The trophy fans see today awarded to the winning team isn’t the original trophy for the World Cup. The old one, made of gold-plated sterling silver, depicted the Goddess of Victory, Nike, holding up a bowl. Known as Jules Rimet, after the longest-serving FIFA president, it got stolen while displayed at Westminster Central Hall, months before the 1966 World Cup Finals were going to be held in England. Luckily, it got later found. However, Brazil permanently got it after they won their third World Cup in 1970. Later, it got stolen again and for good.

The new trophy, the one that we see today, is made of 18-carat gold, with a height of 36.8 cm and weighing about 6 kg. However, that trophy isn’t the one the winners get to keep. There is another winner’s trophy for the winners, plated with gold.

All in all, Qatar has put much effort into this World Cup. So which country do you think would take home the winner’s trophy? I guess we could only wait and see. That’s the end of this production from the New News Newsminute. Thank you for reading, and remember to share this article to let more people know.