Up to 1.3mn fans will visit Qatar during the 2022 World Cup, an official said yesterday, equivalent to half the Gulf country’s population. Nasser al-Khater, a senior figure with the body organising Qatar’s World Cup, also said that for the first time in tournament history many of the fans would come from outside Europe and South America.
“We believe we are going to have a huge influx (of fans), 1.3mn during the tournament,” said al-Khater. “We are putting a ceiling cap of 1.3mn as an estimate.”
He added: “Everybody when they think of a World Cup, they expect the majority of the fans are going to be coming from western Europe and South America.
“I think football is changing, but I think also because of the geographical location of Qatar, I think we are going to see the majority of fans come from the region, mainly from Saudi Arabia.
“We are going to see a lot of fans coming from India, a lot of fans coming from Russia. I think we will see something very different in this World Cup.”
About one mn people visited Brazil for the last World Cup.
The World Cup in Qatar will be held between November 21 and December 18, 2022.

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