Qatar plans ‘normal’ World Cup after vaccines

PTI, Dec 7, 2020, 8:13 AM IST

Doha: Qatar is now planning for a ‘complete normal’ World Cup in 2022 after rapid progress in producing vaccines for the coronavirus, the tournament CEO told The Associated Press on Sunday ahead of the European qualifying draw.

Early in the pandemic that forced the cancelation of the European Championship and Olympics this year, Qatar was concerned about the long-term impact of COVID-19 on the first World Cup to be staged in the Middle East.

Across the world sports have resumed in front of limited or no crowds, but the vaccines have provided hope that crowds can return in large numbers next year.

“The introduction of the vaccine and the rollout of the vaccine, it”s definitely good news for everybody,” 2022 World Cup chief executive Nasser Al-Khater said in an interview with the AP. “Everybody”s looking forward to going back to some sort of normalcy in life and especially in sports as well.

“We”re very hopeful and very looking forward that, by 2022, hopefully things will really be back to complete normal and looking forward to hosting the fans and having a normal and successful World Cup.”

European nations on Monday will discover their path to securing one of 13 spots in the tournament when the qualifying draw is staged at FIFA HQ in Zurich. The pandemic has prevented the event being staged in the host nation as would usually happen before a World Cup.