HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani being interviewed by CNN’s Christian Amanpour.
QNA, AFP
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani has said Qatar will put on one of the finest World Cups in history when it hosts the tournament in 2022.
“People should understand that Qatar had the best bid, and Qatar will provide and will do one of the best World Cups in history,” the Emir told CNN in an interview, adding: “And I’m sure about that.”
“People don’t want to accept, don’t want to realise that a small country, Arab, Muslim country, can host a big event like that.”
He said that Qatar was ready to host either a winter or summer World Cup in 2022.
“Our bid was for it to be in summer,” he said. “At the end, it’s up to FIFA to decide when is the best time.”
To protect players from the heat of Qatar’s summer, the country is developing complex air conditioning systems for its stadiums.
“We have this technology for 10 years now and it’s working in... one of our stadiums,” the Emir told CNN.
“One hundred per cent it will be working” for the World Cup, he added.
Speaking on the situation of migrant workers in Qatar, HH the Emir said: “Yes, it’s true - we had problems,” adding: “We’re solving the problems. We’re enforcing the laws - it’s not acceptable this is to be the fate of workers who come to our country to help in its development and to live in a climate unfavourable to them... Our economy is rapidly growing and hundreds of thousands of workers were coming for work.
“We changed the laws. They are enforced and there are many laws that have been changed. And I’m telling you because I am personally hurt about the situation.”
He promised that the laws would “definitely” be enforced, and workers would “definitely” get paid their fair wages.
“All the media is concentrating on Qatar due to the World Cup,” the Emir said. “If we have problems I don’t mind talking about them. But also, we need to talk about other things, about those laws that we (have introduced),” HH the Emir noted.
