FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced at a press conference in Zurich on Friday evening that the FIFA Council has approved the 2021 Arab Cup, which will be held for the first time in December this year in Qatar.
The Arab Cup, FIFA, Qatar Football Federation, and the High Commission for Projects and Legacy are organized and held at the same time as the World Cup in Qatar, with the final of the Arab Cup to be held on December 18, qatar's national day, exactly a year before the world cup final whistle sits at Lucille Stadium in 2022.
Twenty-two teams are participating in the Arab Cup, including 12 AFC teams, including Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE, Yemen and Bahrain, as well as 10 African teams: Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Comoros, Djibouti and Mauritania.
The Arab Championship (Qatar 2021) is scheduled to be held from December 1 to 18, with the participation of 16 teams out of 22 Arab teams, where they will qualify directly to the finals of the top 10 teams in the FIFA rankings, with the remaining 12 teams qualifying for the finals.
Infantino praised the work of The State of Qatar and the preparations he described as the special organization of the 2022 World Cup, noting that this is the first time he has seen stadiums ready two years before the event, as well as the eight stadiums that will host the World Cup finals is one of the best in the world in all aspects.
He noted Qatar's vision in planning the implementation of projects and stadiums of the 2022 World Cup, which will be enjoyed by fans from all over the world, pointing out that The State of Qatar has provided great facilities for visitors to World Cup, where they can move internally and access the stadiums in many different ways that take into account security and safety.
He said the Qatar World Cup will be a unique experience that has not happened in previous tournaments, especially as fans can watch more than one match per day, which has never happened before, and the fans will have a chance to attend all the matches World Cup.
He praised the efforts of those working in the Qatar World Cup projects, especially the distinctive designs of the stadiums, whether they will remain after the championship or will be dismantled and donated as in the legacy of the Qatar World Cup, praising the recent efforts and achievements of The State of Qatar on employment and specifically the minimum wage of workers, which emphasizes the application of Qatar to all its directions on the ground.
In June, the Qatar Football Federation and FIFA announced plans to organize an international championship for Arab teams in Doha, representing an important milestone on the way to the Qatar World Cup, which will kick off on November 21, 2022. Last November, H.E. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, President of the Qatar Football Federation, said that the Arab Cup will be a great opportunity for the Qatari national team to enhance its technical readiness to appear at the best level in the 2022 World Cup by competing with sister teams, especially those with high technical levels.
Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA last November during his visit to The Lusail Stadium, one of the eight stadiums of the Qatar World Cup 2022, expressed his happiness that the new tournament will boost the enthusiasm of the public about the first edition of the football World Cup in the Arab world and the Middle East .
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