Qatar: No ‘white elephant’ legacy for World Cup stadiums
The 2022 World Cup will take place in Qatar, and in the lead up to Qatar’s bid to host the tournament, we get to read the full text of a report commissioned by FIFA as part of the World Cup bidding process, which reveals the details of what we will be spending money on in a World Cup:
FIFA commissioned an independent study into the value of potential World Cup stadiums in Qatar. The report – commissioned by FIFA – was jointly initiated and supervised by FIFA, the Qatar Foundation, the Qatar National Stadium Development Company and the Qatar Football Association. The study was conducted on behalf of FIFA by consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers with inputs from consultants SRI and other independent experts.
According to the report:
The study presents a comprehensive assessment of the potential value of six stadiums in four cities – Doha (Doha Stadium, the Doha City Stadium and the Khalifa International Stadium), Manama (Al-Manaa Stadium) and Sharjah (King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Stadium) – that will be part of the 2018 or 2022 edition, subject to the successful bid for the 2018 or 2022 edition. Stadiums are subject to different economic, social and environmental constraints that may affect their future viability and commercial viability.
The study was also commissioned to assess the value of potential World Cup stadiums in six Asian and European cities where the 2018 and 2022 editions will be the first to be held.
While the report also identifies some of the issues relating to the development and implementation of a World Cup bidding and construction programme, from an economic perspective, the following are key findings of the report:
By the end of the 2018-22 World Cup bidding process, the potential economic gains from a 2018/2022 World Cup in six Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries – Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Egypt – will be £2,250 million, while the potential economic gain in Asia and Europe together will be £3,000 million.
The potential economic gains (before deducting for construction and infrastructure costs) from an African and Asian stadiums are worth between £1,300 and £1,500 million each. This implies that in either of these regions, African and Asian stadiums will provide a greater economic gain – a potential £1,500
