Qatar 2022 World Cup stadiums waiting for football to restart
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has pushed back the Amir Cup final and Qatar will now look to unveil new stadiums during the Club World Cup in December.
With all sporting activity currently suspended in Qatar due to the coronavirus pandemic, clubs and the Qatar Football Association are waiting to find out when the national leagues and the Amir Cup can get underway again. In the same vein, The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, which is responsible for managing the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup, is also waiting for the green light from the relevant authorities to restart work on the various stadiums being prepared for the tournament.
The Education City Stadium in Doha was scheduled to host a pre-Euro 2020 warm-up tournament featuring European champions Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland and Croatia between 26-30 March, which was also to serve as the inauguration of the World Cup venue. However, the decision was taken to cancel the tournament in line with national leagues and international games across the world being postponed during to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.
Club World Cup will provide opportunity for stadium inaugurations
The final of the Amir Cup was slated to take place in either the Al-Rayyan Stadium or the Al-Bayt Stadium in the middle of May but it now seems increasingly likely that the showpiece game will also be postponed. To that effect, the date will now be rearranged to coincide with the inauguration of either one of the aforementioned stadiums at such time as it becomes viable. The same process was used for the final of the Amir Cup in 2017, when it was staged at the Al-Khalifa International Stadium, and last year when the Al-Janoub Stadium - which is celebrating the anniversary of its opening - hosted the game to mark the importance of the domestic cup competition in the Qatari football calendar.
The dates for the completion of the remainder of the Qatar Stars League season will have some influence on how the Qatar Football Association plans the next campaign, during which the FIFA Club World Cup is due to take place in Qatar in December 2020. The club competition is an important step for the The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy and is set to act as a dress rehearsal for the 2022 World Cup. The organizing committee is hopeful that the Club World Cup will present Qatar with ample opportunities to inaugurate further completed stadiums ahead of the 2022 tournament.