How will Qatar pay back the cost of hosting the World Cup with hundreds of billions of dollars? Qatar won
2022-11-25 09:06:04
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The huge investment of US$220 billion in the Qatar World Cup has aroused heated discussion from the outside world. Can such a large investment recover the cost? Qatari media pointed out that a comprehensive account needs to be calculated.
At the opening ceremony of the World Cup on November 20, the host country Qatar not only showed its unique Middle Eastern culture and Gulf customs, but also provided a stage for improving relations between countries in the Middle East.
How did Qatar repay the debt for the US$200 billion World Cup? Qatar won
At the opening ceremony, Qatar’s Emir Tamim shook hands with Saudi Crown Prince Bin Salman Yan Huan and arranged for him to take a seat at the core of the rostrum. Foreign media pointed out that this series of actions shows that the relationship between Qatar and Saudi Arabia has been repaired to a large extent. In 2017, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain announced that they were severing diplomatic relations with Qatar and suspended personnel and transportation exchanges with Qatar on the grounds of supporting terrorism and interfering in internal affairs. It was not until January 2021, with the mediation of the GCC, that the crisis of severing diplomatic relations eased.
How did Qatar repay the debt for the US$200 billion World Cup? Qatar won
A photo released by the Turkish Presidential Palace showed that during the opening ceremony of the World Cup in Qatar on the 20th, Turkey President Erdogan and Egyptian President Sisi shook hands and exchanged greetings when they met for the first time. Previously, when the Egyptian military led by Sisi dismissed then President Morsi, Erdogan severely criticized Sisi many times, and Turkey-Egypt relations deteriorated.
How did Qatar recoup the cost of hosting the World Cup with US$200 billion? Qatar won the money
In addition, Qatar and Israel launched temporary direct commercial flights during the World Cup on the 20th. The two countries have not established diplomatic relations, and the outside world generally believes that the opening of direct flights is a major breakthrough in the relations between the two countries. According to Israeli media reports, 4,000 Israeli fans and 8,000 Palestinian fans are expected to take direct flights to Qatar to watch the game.
How will Qatar repay the debt for the US$200 billion World Cup? Qatar won
Local media analyzed that since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, relations between major countries in the Middle East have changed. The strategic autonomy of regional countries has been significantly strengthened, and regional relations have undergone major adjustments. Against this background, the Qatar World Cup has successfully opened, and Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, etc. will naturally not miss this football diplomacy opportunity. Since the Qatar World Cup is the first World Cup held in the Middle East, many Arab countries also regard it as "their own World Cup."
Qatar media commented that hosting the World Cup can enhance the country's soft power, make Qatari citizens proud of the country, and improve Qatar's image on the international stage.
Qatar covers an area of ??about 11,500 square kilometers, smaller than Beijing, and has a population of less than 2.7 million. A century ago, Qatar's main industry was natural pearl collecting. Since the 1930s, the oil and natural gas industries have become the mainstay of Qatar's economy. In recent years, the government has invested heavily in the development of natural gas and is the world's largest producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas.
After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, overseas market demand for Qatari liquefied natural gas surged. According to Qatar’s official media reports, Qatar Energy’s oil and liquefied natural gas revenue surged by two-thirds in the first half of 2022, reaching US$32 billion (approximately 230 billion yuan). The dividends brought by oil and gas resources have enabled the per capita GDP to exceed US$60,000, ranking among the highest in the world.
Qatar revealed that although the overall expenditure of the World Cup is huge, eight new stadiums were built and renovated for the World Cup, with a total cost of only US$6.5 billion to US$10 billion, and the rest of the funds were spent on infrastructure. The hosts built new airports, hotels, shopping malls, subways, roads, and even upgraded the original desert village of Lusail into a modern city. During the competition, it is expected that 1.2 million to 1.7 million tourists will flock to Qatar, and the resulting tourism revenue and economic activities will contribute approximately US$17 billion to the Qatari economy.
Qatar believes that hosting the World Cup has improved the country's infrastructure construction and can attract more foreign investment and international tourists in the future, promoting the realization of the national development strategy "National Vision 2030". The core of this vision is to build a country with sustainable development, strong international competitiveness and a high standard of living for its citizens by vigorously developing economic diversification.
Akinci, an economics scholar at Uludag University in Turkey, believes that Qatar not only demonstrates its highly developed economic and technological strength through the World Cup, but is also accelerating the transformation of its development model through this international event, from an energy-based country to Transformation into a service-oriented country.
Every "small goal" number is exaggerated. Aren't Qatar and FIFA afraid of losing money?
In fact, after a century of development, the World Cup has already formed a complete commercialization path and profit system.