Israeli-Palestinian conflict catches up with Qatar World Cup host city Qatar has emerged from the conflagration unscathed, but its neighbors are left fighting over a new source of income.
Aerial view of Doha World Cup stadium as the Qatari national football team gathers in preparation for a friendly against Serbia, June 14, 2010. (Associated Press)
Qatar’s role as a global tourism hub has not escaped the eye of the global media.
The Doha Football Stadium has been a prominent fixture in a series of global sporting and political photo shoots. And now, as the 2020 Qatar World Cup tournament gets under way, this massive, luxurious, waterfront arena is set to host one of the most high-profile sporting events in the world: a Group A soccer match between Qatar (winner of the 2011 Arab Gulf Cup) and Belgium (who beat Argentina in the World Cup final). Qatar is hosting the tournament for the first time and will be joined by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Malaysia, North Korea, Turkey and the United States. The other Group B nations will be drawn on Wednesday, June 19.
This will be the largest sporting event in the history of Qatar. It is also the biggest sporting event ever held in the history of Doha, and the largest stadium ever built for a World Cup. It is also one of the largest sporting stadiums in the world. Its capacity is 2,500 people, with a 60,000-seat stadium. So not only is the entire stadium big, but it also has a super-sized roof. That is a massive feat, considering that the roof could not have been built even by the most prolific architects.
The stadium is just south of the water on the Doha waterfront. It is surrounded by massive residential buildings, offices, hotels, restaurants and parks, all of it designed by world-class architects, including Misha Mohev, the “architecture god”