Qatar sole host of 2022 World Cup

The President of the United Arab Emirates Football Association has insisted Qatar will host the 2022 World Cup alone.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter had said it was possible Qatar could share some of the tournament’s matches with other countries in the region, but UAE Football boss Mohamed Khalfan al-Rumaithi said he expected all games to be held in the host nation.

“Nobody came out from Qatar and said we will do that. We are happy for Qatar. Qatar delivered a good file and I think they will go solo for it. They will go solo and they can do it solo,” al-Rumaithi told Reuters.

“Qatar won it by their file and it was fair competition.”

“Today I read in the news that Mr Blatter said that only the Qataris can decide if the region want to participate in this. But we know that, in that moment that Mr Blatter opened the envelope, it was Qatar, so it’s only Qatar. No one spoke to us no one approached us.”

“They are our neighbours, our brothers. We would like to support them. They have won it by their hard work so let’s believe in Qatar. FIFA believed in Qatar – let’s all believe in Qatar.”

Another issue raised by the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar is that of the intense heat in the region in the middle of the year, when the tournament is traditionally held.

German great Franz Beckenbauer had mooted the possibility of moving the tournament to January in a bid to escape the heat, but FIFA Jerome Valcke has poured cold water on that idea for now.

“For the time being it’s not the case,” Valcke said. “It’s too early to also talk about any change of what was part of the current bid book, which was the one on which the executive committee members made up their minds and decisions.”