World Cup Qatar set to bridge the Arab world to the West

World Cup Qatar is a bid by Qatar to host the World Cup in 2022. However, this has yet to be finalized as the proposal has been under FBI investigation because of corruption and bribery issues which later led to FIFA President Sepp Blatter's resignation. Should World Cup Qatar push through, it will be the first time that an Arab nation will host the tournament. Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani was chairman of the committee for the bidding. The bid was promoted as representing the Arab nations and has received strong support from other members of the Arab League. They also positioned World Cup Qatar to bridge the gap between the West and the Arab nations. On November 17, 2010, Qatar hosted an exhibition game between Argentina and Brazil, which was among the 47 exhibition games staged during that day. FIFA President Sepp Blatter himself endorsed World Cup Qatar. On December 2, 2010, FIFA officially announced that the host nation for the 2022 World Cup will be Qatar.

One of the country's biggest challenges in hosting the World Cup is their extreme temperature. The tournament always happens between June and July, which is off-season in Europe. On these months, daytime temperatures in Qatar could reach above 50°C and not lower than 30°C. To address this issue, bid committee chairman Sheikh Mohammed said they will be building temperature-controlled stadiums on top of other plans. The first five stadiums that were presented in early March of 2010. These stadiums will have the capacity of to reduce temperatures to as low as 20°C. After the event, the stadium's upper parts will then be dismantled and donated to third-world countries with undeveloped sports infrastructures. These five stadiums were designed by architecture firm Albert Speer & Partners from Germany. The cooling systems for the spectators and players will be provided by English company Arup. They will be carbon neutral and sola powered. Two of these arenas, the Al-Wakrah and Al-Khor stadiums, will be built regardless if Qatar will host the World Cup or not. However, the upper parts would not be placed.

In May 2011, bribery allegations against two members of FIFA's executive committee surfaced. Because of this, a revote has been considered. In a board inquiry in May of 2011, it was revealed that some officials were paid to vote for Qatar. Qatari officials has since denied any improper actions from their part, insisting that the allegations all stem from envy from those who are against the nation hosting the event.