(TASS) – The organizing committee of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar refuted on Thursday earlier media reports that FIFA was allegedly planning to relocate the planned global football championship from Qatar to another country.
Television channel TNT Sports reported on Wednesday that the world’s governing body FIFA was allegedly holding closed meetings discussing an option to deprive Qatar of hosting the world championship and move it to another country.
“Qatar and FIFA remain on track to deliver a tournament in Qatar in 2022 and by the end of this year we will have four stadiums ready (three years ahead of the kick-off),” a spokesman for the organizing committee told TASS adding that all venues will be ready by the end of the next year and everything is “on track.”
Allegations about a possible relocation of the world championship from Qatar emerged after reports about a brief detention of Michel Platini, a former president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).
Platini was briefly detained in France on June 18 as part of an investigation into alleged corruption during the bidding process to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Qatar is set to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup between November 21 and December 18 at seven venues across the country, namely in Doha, Lusail, Al-Wakrah, Al-Khor, Al-Rayyan, Umm Salal and Madinat ash Shamal.
Qatar won the right to host the matches of the 2022 FIFA World Cup on December 2, 2010.
In March 2015, FIFA officially announced that the 22nd edition of FIFA’s flagship event would be played in November and December 2022, with the final match set for December 18, 2022 – Qatar National Day – and with the objective, in principle, of holding the tournament for 28 days.
