World Cup 2022: Much do to, but plenty of time (Feature)

By Peter Auf der Heyde Jan 20, 2011, 2:01 GMT

Doha - Driving through the streets of Doha, there are few signs that would suggest Qatar is hosting Asia's most important football tournament.

Organizers have put up some flags announcing the Asian Cup here and there, but there is certainly no football buzz around, as one would have in most other places that are hosting a tournament of that stature.

There are no drunken football fans wearing their teams' jerseys, excitedly discussing the latest games standing huddled on street corners, and there is no feeling of nationalism.

For one, Qatar is virtually an alcohol-free country, where alcohol is only served in a few selected places that have a licence, and then secondly, there are practically no travelling fans, with what little support teams have in the stadium being provided by the country's nationals working in Qatar.

There are no cars driving around with Qatar flags flying and there are no street vendors selling the Qatar jersey or other football paraphernalia.

The lack of football passion and football fever is something that must be worrying football's governing body FIFA, which in December awarded the right to host the 2022 World Cup to the oil-rich Gulf state.

It is also something that the competition director of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has noticed.

'I think there is big potential to get people interested in football. We still have 11 years. The last three, four years has already seen a lot of improvements,' says Tokuaki Suzuki.

The lack of interest has had a negative impact on attendance with none of the games in the first round being played in front of a full stadium.

And the stadiums are certainly not huge, with the 40,000-seater Khalifa Stadium the biggest - all others have a capacity of 22,000 or less.

Not even the 12,000 seater Qatar SC stadium has been filled.

It is thus hardly surprising that officials are inflating the attendance figures. Journalists at the game between Japan and Saudi Arabia counted less than 600 spectators, yet official figures were given at over 2,000.

An AFC official, who asked that his name not be disclosed, explained the discrepancy by saying that they are including tickets sold.

FIFA president Joseph Blatter said before the tournament started, that the January 7-29 Asian Cup in Qatar is like a trial run for the World Cup - albeit on a much smaller scale.

Suzuki believes one can already speak of a successful trial run.

'It has been a successful trial run and it is definitely a good competition for the Qataris to learn about international competitions,' he told the German Press Agency dpa in an exclusive interview.

But while the Japanese national says that organizational-wise Qatar could host the competition immediately, he admits that the question of football passion is not the only issue that needs to be addressed before 2022.

'They obviously do not have the stadiums, but they will build them. They also need more hotels, there is very little accommodation at the bottom end.'

He also raised the question of Qatar's strength, but said it is an issue with other Asian countries as well.

'At the moment, not only Qatar, but the Asian level is not in the top level in the world and we need to improve our technical standard, but we believe we can make it.'

Suzuki is reluctant to say whether the World Cup should be held in the winter months in Qatar or in summer, when temperatures can soar to 50 degrees.

'That is not for me to say, that is a FIFA matter.'

Blatter has recently come out strongly in support of the competition being staged in winter, while another controversial issue has been raised by UEFA president Michel Platini, who also serves on the FIFA executive.

The Frenchman has suggested the World Cup be played in several Gulf states, but that too is a suggestion that has not been universally accepted.

Neither ideas were received favourably by AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam, who also said that Qatar can 'stand alone' and described Blatter's call as 'hurting' and 'damaging', adding that the AFC and Qatar World Cup organizers had not been kept informed.

Another who criticized the call to stage the World Cup in different countries in the region is Iran coach Afshid Ghotbi who said the whole bid process should then be started from scratch.

'If you try to change the landscape after the bid, it seems to me unfair. So if you want to change the landscape you should re-open the bid,' he said.

The coach, who holds an US and Iranian passport, however believes that the idea to give the World Cup to Qatar was a good one.

'By bringing the World Cup to the Middle East I think they have done great job in bringing this world maybe a little bit closer,' he told dpa.

Iraq coach Wolfgang Sidka shares his sentiments, saying: 'You can see that everything is perfectly organized now and it will be like that in 2022.'

However, few doubt that Qatar can organize the World Cup.

What is in question is whether they will have a football culture in place by 2022 and whether the locals actually care.

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