The Secretary-General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, Hassan Al-Thawadi, revealed in an exclusive interview the scenes of Qatar's hosting of the World Cup, where he confirmed that the Qatari work team that uploaded the hosting file in early 2010 was new to the world of international football, and the team was not known, and was subject to a kind of mockery. And the international football community did not take them seriously, and they believed that Qatar wanted to submit the hosting file just for the sake of submission, as for the football community, the idea of ​​an Arab country hosting the largest sporting event was pure fantasy, and one of the seventh impossibilities.

Al-Thawadi stressed that the hosting file was from the first moment an Arab file, primarily in the Middle East and Qatar, and that one of the first visits of the work team in April 2010 was to Beirut to present the Qatari file to Arab sports ministers, in order to promote the concept of an Arab championship, and that the time has come for the homeland Al-Arabi is to be present in hosting major international events.

Commenting on the short documentary shown by the program "The Story Remains" about the experience of volunteers in the Qatar World Cup 2022, he explained that the secret behind selecting nearly 50% of volunteers from the Arab world was to present a message: that the Arab world welcomes the world on Earth. Qatar.

The "The Story of the Rest" program had shown a short film in which it revealed the scenes behind the selection of about 20,000 volunteers to work in the World Cup arrangements. This World Cup is Arab, not just Qatari.

The turning point

Al-Thawadi recounted how his speech to the African Union constituted a turning point, when South Africa was preparing for the World Cup, and how in his speech he was able to simulate the criticism they were exposed to as the African continent hosting the World Cup, and at that time the international football community began to realize the seriousness of the Qatari team and its ability to compete with a project. Really want to win.

Change the stereotype

In the context of the challenges facing the Arab hosting file, the Secretary-General spoke about technical issue issues, including the reference to the size of Qatar as a country, being negative in appearance, but he strengthened the strength of the file in presenting it as a factor of strength, by reducing the state of stress and wasted time among the participating teams due to Reducing the travel time, and the geographical location of the country with regard to the possibility of watching matches helped give the largest number of the world's population the opportunity to follow live at appropriate times.

In his response to the transfer of the tournament to the winter season and the criticism directed at it, Al-Thawadi attributed this to being in fact the decision of the international football world, not Qatar, which showed its technical readiness to provide hosting in the summer, but the concerned international authorities decided to move it to the winter season.

Al-Thawadi spoke about the stereotype implanted in the Western world about uncivilized Arabs, who have only one positive thing, which is money, and how difficult it was to reach a stage in which Western society realizes that Qatar won in an honest competition that was fought against one another and not as a gift, in light of widespread denunciation and disapproval of the idea of ​​winning. an Arab country over major countries;

Such as: the United States of America, as well as on the continent of Australia.

He also pointed out that the boycott calls and foreign incitement campaigns against Qatar are behind political positions, which take the World Cup in Qatar as a pretext to cover up internal issues for it, for example: the policy of boycotting screens according to information received, was for political reasons for internal consumption, or for economic hardship where activation is required. Screens, electricity and other requirements, in light of the current crisis that European countries are going through, but reasons related to the World Cup in Qatar are invoked instead of stating the real reasons behind these campaigns.

He stressed that the continuation of the insulting statements about Qatar and the incitement campaigns is for internal consumption in the societies of those countries, and that the ambassadors concerned with changing the stereotype about Qatar and the Arab world will be in the hands of the football fans who will coexist with the Arab culture and civilization in Qatar to transfer them to the world.

Excessive spending

In answer to Fayrouz Zayani's question about spending $200 billion - according to the British newspaper (Sun) - on the tournament, Al-Thawadi explained that the description of the figure is not accurate.

As these expenses are related to all infrastructure projects and their development for the State of Qatar and were not built for the World Cup, as the committee was keen not to burden the country with requirements for infrastructure that it does not need, but rather to make the most of the tournament, and that Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup prompted the completion of Qatar Vision 2030 projects and development plans The country and the infrastructure in general in record time, and the principle of legacy in building stadiums was present, as residents of the neighborhoods surrounding the stadiums were contacted to find out their needs to provide them through the construction of stadiums and their facilities.

Raising slogans in stadiums

And in response to a question about the presence of the Palestinian masses and their ability to participate in the stadiums via a flight to Qatar, while raising slogans with political dimensions might constitute an embarrassment.

The Qatari official stressed that FIFA is fully responsible for everything that happens on the stadium campus, in accordance with the laws and legislation in force internationally, but he stressed that the presence of the Palestinian public on the Qatari lands to participate in this global event with its Arab character is a reason for joy in this Arab demonstration, which is What Qatar was keen on is the necessity for the participation of the Palestinian public with the rest of the Arab world.

Exceptional insurance

On the level of securing the World Cup, Al-Thawadi confirmed that since 2013 a security committee has been formed headed by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior, and includes all security agencies and authorities. From then on, preparations for security plans began, and one of the main points was the presence of the current security personnel on the ground in various international tournaments, and they are the ones who Key elements in the security teams present today in Qatar, in addition to drawing on international expertise, and securing cyber plans that are among the best in the world.

What after the World Cup?

The Secretary-General stressed that the Qatar World Cup 2022 will not be the last stop in Qatar's achievements, and that there is still much that awaits the world for what Qatar will present, and he sent a message to the Arab masses that the championship is their championship, and in his speech to the global masses he called on them to go through a historical experience that is the first of its kind, and to give up From the stereotype implanted in the Western mentality, the Arab people are much more than the "Thousand and One Nights".