32-team World Cup format intact for Qatar 2022 - Blatter

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Saturday after talks between football chiefs the 2022 World Cup will remain a 32 team competition with no change to the share between the regional confederations.

Europe and South America had feared an attempt to cut their places, but Blatter said: "there is no change."

The decision taken by FIFA's executive committee means that Europe will still have 13 places at the Qatar tournament and Africa five.

Asia and South America each get four places and a chance at a playoff. North and Central America get three places and a playoff chance while the Oceania winner enters a playoff.

Qatar will qualify automatically as the hosts.

UEFA chief Michel Platini had said ahead of the meeting that remaining at 13 places was a "red line" for the European confederation.

Prince Ali bin al Hussein, who challenged Blatter for the FIFA presidency, had proposed increasing the number of teams.

But Blatter said on Friday that the World Cup should "not be touched."

Floating Hotels for Qatar 2022 World Cup

Qatar plans to accommodate some 12,000 football fans on cruise ships during the World Cup in 2022, a spokesman for the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) said on Monday.

The proposal for "floating hotels" is a revival of an idea which was initially rejected two years ago.

However, Qatar is now seeking to strengthen its presence in the cruise ship market and the idea to house fans during the tournament has been re-floated.

The QTA announced the proposals at a trade conference in the US over the weekend.

In a statement on the official Qatar News Agency, the QTA said: "Over the past few years, QTA established a number of strong relationships with international cruise operators as well as with other specialists involved in the industry.

"This has proved to be of great importance especially that Qatar will be extensively benefiting from cruise ships over the 2022 World Cup, as a means of providing additional accommodation supply for fans and visitors over the period.

"QTA will be contracting a minimum of 6,000 rooms on cruise ships for 2022 tournament."

A spokesman for the authority confirmed on Monday that this equated to space for 12,000 fans.

It is not yet clear where the cruise ships will be docked but as part of Qatar's huge $200-billion (190-billion euros) capital spending project, ahead of football's most prestigious tournament, the country is building a new port south of the capital, Doha.

FIFA guidelines say Qatar must have 60,000 rooms available for fans by 2022.

Ambitious Qatar though has pledged to make 100,000 rooms available.

This however may lead to thousands of hotel rooms going empty once the tournament, being played in November and December 2022, finishes.

Housing football fans offshore may ease any problems of hotel room over-capacity and it could also help with the thorny issue of alcohol.

AFP

Qatar to award contract for World Cup stadia in November

QATAR will award a management contract next month to oversee construction projects for the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament, an industry source said.

More than six companies are vying for the contract, expected to be awarded in November, including British construction consultants Arup, Mace and Turner International, a construction industry source in Doha said. “It is a lump sum contract for 13 years, and will be awarded to one team comprised of about 50 people. A lot of firms have teamed up with each other, to make sure they have the best quality resources,” the source said. “It is a big deal, so the usual suspects are pitching for it.” Britain’s Mace separately confirmed in an interview that it was in the running for the Qatar soccer project and expected a decision before December. The Gulf Arab country last December won the bid to host the 2022 soccer tournament, and is preparing to build housing, infrastructure, transport and sport facilities for the event. Industry commentators say the programme management contract would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, with the winning group to oversee the construction of the stadia as well as awarding contracts to builders. “The (programme manager) will coordinate with all government agencies on the large projects. We want to make sure that close coordination is done early on and that systems are in place, so we do not have to go back and make changes later,” 2022 Supreme Committee Spokesman Nasser Al-Khater said last month. The programme manager will also bring on board consultants, contractors and suppliers, he said. Qatar will spend $4 billion to host the event, including the cost of constructing stadia, the committee has said. Stadia are estimated to cost between $200 million and $400 million each to build. The country will build nine new stadia and renovate three existing facilities. 2022 Supreme Committee secretary general said in June that the country planned to complete construction of the first stadium for the 2022 soccer World Cup by 2015.