The organizers of this World Cup (November 21-December 18) admit to being "cautiously optimistic", two years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
They will host 32 national teams and Fifa has already received requests for 17 million tickets, which will not all be satisfied, during a first round of reservations which has just ended.
Spectators have been largely kept out of the past two editions of the Olympic Games, in Tokyo in August, with a few exceptions outside Tokyo, and again this winter in Beijing, except for limited invitations.
In this regard, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighted the "singular challenges" that await the organizers of the 2022 World Cup.
“The lessons we will learn from Qatar's experience in this World Cup will help us all design health and safety measures for other major events,” commented the WHO director general.
Football has a responsibility to "ensure that it will not only be the best World Cup in history, but also the healthiest", confirmed Infantino in a video message recorded for this video conference dedicated to health. during the Mondial-2022.
Health and safety standards in Qatar will serve as a "benchmark for future world events on this scale", assured the president of Fifa.
The WHO is working closely with the government of Qatar on several themes of health protection, in terms of infectious diseases, risks of poisoning, as well as on the coordination and communication that will be implemented during the World Cup. .
"Even if the pandemic is still here, with us, we can really start to see the light at the end of the tunnel," said Hassan Al-Thawadi, secretary general of the Supreme Organizing Committee for the World Cup.
According to Mr. Al Thawadi, "the pandemic has given new meaning" to the Mondial-2022.
He says he is "cautiously optimistic" and hopes that Qatar will be "the first country to really allow a gathering of fans from all over the world since the start of the health crisis".
© 2022 AFP