The 2022 FIFA World Cup will take place in Qatar. Gerry Sutcliffe, minister for Sport of Great Britain, still claims that Mohammed bin Hammam, member of the FIFA executive committee, bribed several officials of the world football governing organization and that is why they made their choice on Doha. FIFA president Joseph Blatter has proposed to hold the 2022 World Cup in winter, not in summer. Blatter admitted it is impossible to play football in Qatar due to high temperature. The FIFA president is right. I have experienced what the heat of Qatar really means. On my way to Brazil, I had to stop in Doha for a night. I felt the heat of Qatar at 12:00 a.m. when the airplane landed. The situation was same at 6 a.m. and the temperature reached almost 40 degrees. Although, the climate is changing in the world but I do not think it will cause a sharp temperature drop in Qatar by summer 2022. The hotel porter who turned out to be Uzbek even joked they are going to install air conditioners in the stadiums. I asked the Uzbek about “Bunyodkor”, Rivaldo and Luiz Felipe Scolari. Scolari coached “Bunyodkor” and received 13 million EUR salaries every year. The Uzbek told me the daughter of the president of Uzbekistan owned “Bunyodkor” then.  

Due to the Qatari heat, people start working at 5 a.m. in Doha. The city is really beautiful and it is becoming more beautiful. This country does not lack money due to oil. It is surprising the officials are trying to make the city green in such difficult climatic conditions. Doha is preparing for the 2022 Mundial and I saw a stadium under construction on my way to airport.

You could feel the upcoming World Cup at the Doha international airport. Several passengers in T-shirts of Brazil were waiting for the flight to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. There was a lady with a cap of “Colombia”.

Lasha Tabagari, specially for worldsport.ge from Doha