December 2, 2010 would go down the annals of the State of Qatar as a red-letter day for on this day the aspirations of football-loving people of Arab world region in general and Qataris in particular were fulfilled as Qatar bagged the rights to host the prestigious FIFA 2022. Qatar, the jewel of the Arab world and one of the fastest moving economies in the world, had to overcome a stiff challenge from strong contenders such as Japan, South Korea, Australia & USA before bagging the coveted rights.

This success story of Qatar was not a result of overnight preparation but it was the fruit of detailed and careful planning, meticulous preparation and professional approach by the ruling family of Qatar, that is, Father Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, his wife wife Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned and our present Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The team under their disposal consisted of young, professional Qataris who had graduated from various universities abroad and were fluent in international languages such as French, Spanish, German etc.

Working against the Qatar bid was the extreme temperature in the desert country, the size of Qatar and the stadiums. FIFA experts and consultants predicted that these could prove detrimental for Qatar bid. But the Qatar Bid Committee backed by sports-loving Qataris turned these demerits into merits. The problem of extreme weather was addressed through the proposed cooling technology capable of reducing temperatures within the stadium by up to 20 degrees Celsius, and the upper tiers of the stadia will be disassembled after the World Cup and donated to countries with less developed sports infrastructure. The size of stadiums or Qatar as such was not going to be a problem either. Though Qatar is a small country, it has a strong transport network which will further be enhanced with the introduction of metro. This will enable the football fans to watch at least 3 matches on a single day.

We being a Qatari firm are proud of the achievement of our country and hence would like to share the moments of success with you. Please click here to find the presentation by Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, the wife of Qatar Emir and the driving force behind Qatar’s success story. She is the Chairperson of the Arab Democracy Foundation, President of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs since 1998. Also, she is Vice-President of the Supreme Education Council since 2002 and was UNESCO's Special Envoy for Basic and Higher Education in 2003.

Please also find the links to see Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani’s presentation in French (Click here).

Qatar has already begun its preparation for the mega event. The government has pumped in 200 billion dollars towards the creation of stadiums, enhancing of infrastructure, introduction of metro etc. This has also created a lot of opportunities for manufacturers, contractors and construction work. Further a lot of merchandisers too will be making their way into the growing Qatari market. As they say make hay when the sun shines. It’s time to seize the opportunity and be a part of growing economy and global power.