Qatar cuts World Cup stadium building plans

Qatar is to reduce the number of stadiums it will build for its hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup from 12 to eight amid rising costs and uncertainty over whether the Emirate will actually stage the event.

With bribery allegations surrounding Qatar’s winning bid to host the event and calls for the Emirate to be stripped of its hosting rights, Ghanim Al Kuwari, the organising committee’s senior manager for projects told Bloomberg that Qatar now planned to build eight stadiums for the event.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch had previously advised investors that Qatar was negotiating with world football governing body FIFA, to reduce the number of stadia it builds for the prestigious event.

Qatar originally announced plans for 12 stadiums, including nine new playing fields and three refurbishments and the Emirate’s most recent budget allocated US$24 billion for key projects including sports-related infrastructure in advance of hosting the event.

Qatar has also been widely criticised for abuses of migrant workers engaged on stadium construction projects.

Among venues still being provided for the World Cup, construction has started on Qatar’s first all-new stadium, Al Wakrah, while work on the Al Rayan stadium is set to start later this year

The 40,000-seater Al Wakrah Stadium, future home of Al Wakrah Sports Club, has been the first of Qatar’s World Cup host venues to be revealed. The stadium will be surrounded by a 560,000 metre2 precinct with a new sports centre and community hub.

The precinct will include a range of community facilities, including a park, mosque, school, hotel, wedding hall, vocational training centre and retail outlets.

After the tournament, the stadium’s capacity will be reduced to 20,000 with the extra modular seats removed, re-configured and donated to countries in need of sporting infrastructure.

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