If football is the usual talking point of any Fifa World Cup, then the stadiums built for the Qatar tournament will almost certainly run it a close second.
Previous World Cups have largely involved refurbishing existing stadiums to bring them up to the standard expected of the world’s greatest feast of football.
For Qatar, seven new arenas have risen out of the ground in only a few years. The eighth, Khalifa International Stadium, has been renovated so extensively it is almost unrecognisable.
It is a remarkable achievement for a country whose domestic football league is only 50 years old and where the number of spectators for the biggest games typically runs into the hundreds.
To put it another way, the entire population of Qatar, excluding guest workers, could comfortably fit into the eight stadiums at the same time — with about 50,000 seats still going spare.
We used materials from sustainable sources and implemented innovative legacy plans to ensure our tournament doesn’t leave any ‘white elephants’
Hassan Al Thawadi,
Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy
For the World Cup, the eight arenas, with a total capacity of 420,000, will probably be bursting at the seams. This is a chance for the country to display its glittering best, at a cost estimated at $220 billion, including a new metro.
The new stadiums alone have a price tag estimated at $10 billion, or an average of $1.25 billion each, Hassan Al Thawadi, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy's secretary general, said in 2016.
It also means the cost for each day of use for a single stadium in what is only a four-week competition is a staggering $357 million. When the winners lift the golden Fifa World Cup trophy on December 18, Qatar will need to recalibrate its investment.
Each stadium has its own legacy plans. One will disappear completely. Stadium 974 — the name derived from Qatar’s international dialling code — is made entirely from recycled shipping containers.
With a capacity of 40,000, the first temporary stadium in the history of the World Cup broke ground in 2018 and was completed three years later.
Built on an artificial promontory next to the port of Doha, the stadium will be dismantled after the World Cup with the site to become a waterside business park.
The roof and seats will be donated to other sporting projects outside Qatar. As for the shipping containers — which also number 974 — it’s not clear how many will return to active duty on the high seas.
In a document, Mr Al Thawadi said the committee recycled and reused materials where possible during construction and consulted local communities before deciding on how best to repurpose the stadiums.
"We used materials from sustainable sources and implemented innovative legacy plans to ensure our tournament doesn’t leave any ‘white elephants’," he said.
"To achieve this particular goal, we canvassed local communities to find out what facilities they needed and implemented their ideas and suggestions into stadium developments and precincts.
"The result is detailed legacy plans, including a proposal to remove the modular upper tier from several stadiums and donate the seats to countries in need of sporting infrastructure."
Lusail Stadium, this year's tournament's biggest with a capacity of 80,000, will host the World Cup final, but never see another game of international football. Designed by architects Foster+Partners, the huge golden bowl will have most of its seats stripped away and be repurposed for shops, cafes and possibly a school and health clinics. The upper tiers will be transformed into housing, while the pitch will be used for community games.
Al Bayt Stadium, the second largest, has a tent-like design which honours Qatari heritage and will host the opening game, as well as quarter-finals and a semi-final.
It, too, will radically change after the tournament. The upper tiers will be removed and replaced by a new five-star hotel, shopping centre and sports medicine hospital.
Running through all this is Qatar’s desire not to be left with a collection of abandoned and derelict stadiums, as has happened with previous host nations.
Brazil’s 2014 World Cup left many cities struggling with expensive maintenance costs for stadiums that, in some cases, now house merely a few hundred spectators. Arena da Amazonia cost about $250 million to build in Manaus, an area in the middle of the Amazon that is difficult to reach and has now been virtually abandoned.
Greece spent about $11 billion when Athens hosted the 2004 Summer Olympics — almost double the initial budget. It was the most expensive Olympics at the time and helped bring about the country's financial crisis in 2007-2008.
The Hellinikon Olympic Canoe / Kayal Slalom Centre once seated 7,600 spectators and its course was filled with salt water for the world's greatest teams to compete. Today, almost 20 years on, the water is drained with weeds having grown through the cracked concrete. The centre is one of many purpose-built arenas in Athens that have since been abandoned and are slowly succumbing to the elements.
A site for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground, met a similar fate after being built for the games. The court, which holds 17,000 tonnes of sand, once seated 12,000 people but is now used for an annual beach festival. It was used for its intended purpose only twice more after the games, when it hosted the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour in 2011 and 2012.
Qatar’s strategy for avoiding this has been to downsize aggressively once the World Cup is over, offering the redundant structures, amounting to about 170,000 seats, to poorer countries looking to improve their sporting infrastructure.
The technology behind the cooling systems developed for seven of the eight stadiums has deliberately not been patented, allowing other countries and businesses to use it free of charge.
It was developed by Saud Abdulaziz Abdul Ghani, a professor of engineering at Qatar University, who calls the technology “a potential game-changer for countries with hot climates. That is why I made sure that anyone can use it”. He calls it “one of Qatar’s many gifts to the world”.
Ahmad bin Ali, Al Janoub and Al Thumama Stadium will all have their capacity cut to about 20,000 spectators post-World Cup, although even this may be optimistic given normal attendances.
Two of Qatar’s biggest clubs will make the former World Cup stadiums their home. Al Rayyan, eight times winner of the Qatar Stars League, will move into the Ahmad bin Ali, while Al Wakrah will make Al Janoub their home.
Education City Stadium will also be cut from 40,000 to 20,000 capacity and, as the name suggests, will become a sports ground for university students.
Only Khalifa International Stadium will remain. First built for the 1976 Gulf Cup, it was renovated for the 2006 Asian Games and upgraded again to Fifa standards in 2017, and now has an additional 12,000 temporary seats.
More international sporting events are lined up for the stadium, including football and athletics, and it will also serve as a monument to the 2022 World Cup.
Ireland (15-1):
Ireland (15-1): Rob Kearney; Keith Earls, Chris Farrell, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale; Jonathan Sexton, Conor Murray; Jack Conan, Sean O'Brien, Peter O'Mahony; James Ryan, Quinn Roux; Tadhg Furlong, Rory Best (capt), Cian Healy
Replacements: Sean Cronin, Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Ultan Dillane, Josh van der Flier, John Cooney, Joey Carbery, Jordan Larmour
Coach: Joe Schmidt (NZL)
MORE ON IRAN'S PROXY WARS
THE NEW BATCH'S FOCUS SECTORS
AiFlux – renewables, oil and gas
DevisionX – manufacturing
Event Gates – security and manufacturing
Farmdar – agriculture
Farmin – smart cities
Greener Crop – agriculture
Ipera.ai – space digitisation
Lune Technologies – fibre-optics
Monak – delivery
NutzenTech – environment
Nybl – machine learning
Occicor – shelf management
Olymon Solutions – smart automation
Pivony – user-generated data
PowerDev – energy big data
Sav – finance
Searover – renewables
Swftbox – delivery
Trade Capital Partners – FinTech
Valorafutbol – sports and entertainment
Workfam – employee engagement
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Ruwais timeline
1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established
1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants
1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed
1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.
1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex
2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea
2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd
2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens
2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies
2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export
2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.
2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery
2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital
2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13
Source: The National
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
F1 line ups in 2018
Mercedes-GP Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas; Ferrari Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen; Red Bull Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen; Force India Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez; Renault Nico Hülkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jr; Williams Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa / Robert Kubica / Paul di Resta; McLaren Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne; Toro Rosso TBA; Haas F1 Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen; Sauber TBA
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat & Other Stories From the North
Edited and Introduced by Sjón and Ted Hodgkinson
Pushkin Press
THE SCORES
Ireland 125 all out
(20 overs; Stirling 72, Mustafa 4-18)
UAE 125 for 5
(17 overs, Mustafa 39, D’Silva 29, Usman 29)
UAE won by five wickets
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
SANCTIONED
- Kirill Shamalov, Russia's youngest billionaire and previously married to Putin's daughter Katarina
- Petr Fradkov, head of recently sanctioned Promsvyazbank and son of former head of Russian Foreign Intelligence, the FSB.
- Denis Bortnikov, Deputy President of Russia's largest bank VTB. He is the son of Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB which was responsible for the poisoning of political activist Alexey Navalny in August 2020 with banned chemical agent novichok.
- Yury Slyusar, director of United Aircraft Corporation, a major aircraft manufacturer for the Russian military.
- Elena Aleksandrovna Georgieva, chair of the board of Novikombank, a state-owned defence conglomerate.
Secret Nation: The Hidden Armenians of Turkey
Avedis Hadjian, (IB Tauris)
Boulder shooting victims
• Denny Strong, 20
• Neven Stanisic, 23
• Rikki Olds, 25
• Tralona Bartkowiak, 49
• Suzanne Fountain, 59
• Teri Leiker, 51
• Eric Talley, 51
• Kevin Mahoney, 61
• Lynn Murray, 62
• Jody Waters, 65
More on Palestine-Israeli relations
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
'Panga'
Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta
Rating: 3.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The%20BaaS%20ecosystem
%3Cp%3EThe%20BaaS%20value%20chain%20consists%20of%20four%20key%20players%3A%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EConsumers%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20End-users%20of%20the%20financial%20product%20delivered%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDistributors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Also%20known%20as%20embedders%2C%20these%20are%20the%20firms%20that%20embed%20baking%20services%20directly%20into%20their%20existing%20customer%20journeys%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEnablers%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Usually%20Big%20Tech%20or%20FinTech%20companies%20that%20help%20embed%20financial%20services%20into%20third-party%20platforms%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EProviders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Financial%20institutions%20holding%20a%20banking%20licence%20and%20offering%20regulated%20products%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MATCH INFO
Burnley 1 (Brady 89')
Manchester City 4 (Jesus 24', 50', Rodri 68', Mahrez 87')
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
UNpaid bills:
Countries with largest unpaid bill for UN budget in 2019
USA – $1.055 billion
Brazil – $143 million
Argentina – $52 million
Mexico – $36 million
Iran – $27 million
Israel – $18 million
Venezuela – $17 million
Korea – $10 million
Countries with largest unpaid bill for UN peacekeeping operations in 2019
USA – $2.38 billion
Brazil – $287 million
Spain – $110 million
France – $103 million
Ukraine – $100 million
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Padmaavat
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
3.5/5
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
Sunday's fixtures
- Bournemouth v Southampton, 5.30pm
- Manchester City v West Ham United, 8pm
A little about CVRL
Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.
One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases.
The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What is a black hole?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The biog
Favourite film: Motorcycle Dairies, Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, Kagemusha
Favourite book: One Hundred Years of Solitude
Holiday destination: Sri Lanka
First car: VW Golf
Proudest achievement: Building Robotics Labs at Khalifa University and King’s College London, Daughters
Driverless cars or drones: Driverless Cars
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sri Lanka v England
First Test, at Galle
England won by 211
Second Test, at Kandy
England won by 57 runs
Third Test, at Colombo
From Nov 23-27
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The story of Edge
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, established Edge in 2019.
It brought together 25 state-owned and independent companies specialising in weapons systems, cyber protection and electronic warfare.
Edge has an annual revenue of $5 billion and employs more than 12,000 people.
Some of the companies include Nimr, a maker of armoured vehicles, Caracal, which manufactures guns and ammunitions company, Lahab
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Brief scores:
Everton 0
Leicester City 1
Vardy 58'
HAJJAN
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Abu%20Bakr%20Shawky%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cbr%3EStarring%3A%20Omar%20Alatawi%2C%20Tulin%20Essam%2C%20Ibrahim%20Al-Hasawi%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The years Ramadan fell in May
