Qatar Set to Exceed Expectations in 2022 World Cup

By Hayden Taylor | December 1, 2022

This year’s FIFA World Cup will be one of the most historically significant editions of the tournament since the event’s first commencement in Uruguay, during the Summer of 1930. Every four years since then, the World Cup has taken place in 18 different countries and redefined boundaries for economies around the world. This year, Qatar will have the chance to break even more records, as it is the first World Cup to be held in an Arab nation and only the second ever to happen in Asia.

From an economic standpoint, this years World Cup will certainly be the first of its kind. Qatar is one of the wealthier nations of the world, racking up most of its revenue from the drilling and exportation of its natural gas and petroleum to countries all across the globe. The country itself, has a small native population of around 350,000–roughly the same population as Chicago.

In 2010, when Qatar was given host privileges for the 2022 World Cup, FIFA and other world soccer organizations faced backlash from countries and parties around the world. Many argued that the country was unfit to host the event due to the lack of infrastructure and resources to support the popularity of the World Cup. Since then, Qatar has spent more than $220 billion over the past decade in preparation to host the world’s largest event. This $220 billion sum makes the 2022 World Cup the most expensive to ever occur, and equates to five times the cost of the previous five world cups combined.

Considering the large amount they spent in preparation for the Cup, nationwide policies and prices have been changed in order to maintain economic stability. The country expects to make back a large portion of its money from the influx of tourists and spectators. Costs of commercial and residential services across the country have already been re-evaluated and increased. Restaurants, for example, have seen nearly a 50% increase in prices of menu items, and many other producer prices have also grown in order to appropriately reel in the money. With such a small national population, Qatar is expecting roughly a 33% increase in the number of people in the country from November to December, and is adjusting in order to maximize its revenue.

Qatar’s ability to properly host the world’s largest event initially faced doubt because of its stadium and sporting event limitations. Over the last decade, the country has spent almost $10 billion on building seven new stadiums. These seven stadiums have all been designed in the most eco-friendly way possible in hopes to get close to net-zero carbon emissions during stadium production. The large talking point for Qatar was the Arena de Amazonia, featured during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Many stadiums like the Arena de Amazonia cost hundreds of millions of dollars to create, and then serve no further use after the conclusion of the events.

Qatar’s mission was then to create stadiums that could be used after the World Cup ended. One of the seven stadiums, Stadium 974, was built out of 974 metal storage containers and will be deconstructed following the end of the games and the containers will be recycled for other production purposes. A handful of the other additional six stadiums have received four or five star ratings in the Global Sustainability Assessment System. The stadiums in Qatar are some of the first to be built with the goals of both eco-friendliness and economic efficiency.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup has been talked about for over 12 years and is bound to be one of the most economically intriguing events to ever take place. Qatar has spent massive sums of money in preparation and will face the ultimate test come Sunday, November 20th.

Edited by Colin Jones