World Cup 2022 could fall apart due to diplomatic crisis in Qatar

Qatar's plan to host the world's biggest football festival may be in jeopardy due to recent complicated political developments.

Khalifa Stadium in Doha opened in May 2017, one of the venues for the 2022 World Cup. Photo: AFP.

Due to the conflicts that have lasted for many years, recently Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Bahrain have closed the only land route to Qatar. These countries also refused to allow the use of their sea and airspace to reach Qatar.

Qatar has spent billions of dollars on plans to host the 2022 World Cup, including building nine stadiums and other facilities. But the country is in turmoil as the diplomatic crisis unfolds. People are stockpiling food.

The road to the Saudi border is the only land access to Qatar, a small peninsula. Qatar relies heavily on its ports for shipping and being banned from using its airspace by its neighbors is a huge disadvantage for Qatar in general and Qatar Airways, a FIFA sponsor, in particular.

Qatar Airways, a FIFA sponsor, suffered losses when Arab countries denied the use of airspace. Photo: Reuters.

FIFA has not commented on the incident. However, according to Reuters, the world football governing body has been in contact with the 2022 World Cup Organizing Committee in recent days to grasp the situation.

"We remain in regular contact with the Qatar Organising Committee and the Qatar Delivery and Legacy Committee on matters relating to the staging of the 2022 World Cup. We have no further comment," FIFA said.

The Qatar 2022 World Cup organising committee and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) both declined to comment on the matter. However, a source close to the matter told the Guardian that Qatar is facing its biggest challenge since winning the 2022 World Cup bid in 2010.

The German Football Association (DFB), a highly influential federation whose team won the most recent World Cup, said it would discuss the issue with the government and UEFA.

FIFA declined to comment on the incident in Qatar. Photo: Reuters.

Reinhard Grindel, president of the DFB, is looking for a political solution to the crisis. But he said: "The international football community should accept that major tournaments cannot be held in countries that support terrorism."

Saudi Arabia announced that the reason for cutting ties with Qatar was because the country "covers many terrorist forces and factions that cause instability in the region". Saudi Arabia even accused Qatar of supporting the notorious terrorist organization Al-Qaeda and the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS).

Qatar are currently in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers and are bottom of a group that includes South Korea, China and Syria, with four points from seven games. However, before tackling the technical side, another major challenge awaits Qatar.

In the run-up to the 2022 World Cup, Qatar has hosted a series of sporting events on a global and regional scale. It is expected that this September, the country will host the Swimming World Cup. The swimming federation (FINA) did not respond to Reuters' questions about whether it would proceed with the event in the current complicated context.

Qatar wants to make an international impact through sports. However, this plan will be affected in no small part by recent political incidents.

According to VNE