With stadiums already built to host some of the world’s biggest teams, England has the sporting infrastructure to take the place of Qatar in the event of the Gulf state being stripped of hosting rights for the 2022 tournament, officials claimed on Monday.
“We have the capabilities” to host the tournament, said Lord Triesman, the former chairman of the unsuccessful English bid for the 2018 tournament.
Senior football officials said there was still enough time to move the tournament to one of the "more mature" footballing countries such as England, where hotels, transport and media links were already largely in place to deal with such a change, and hold a successful tournament.
Read more: Qatar ran ‘black ops’ campaign to win World Cup
“Absolutely they could switch this,” Mark Palios, the former Football Association chief executive, told the BBC. England has the stadiums and “they could organise themselves within that timeframe”.
The sticking point would be Fifa ensuring it was legally bulletproof from any Qatari legal challenge if it lost the multi-billion-pound tournament and the international prestige that went with it. They would likely require an extended investigation into the weekend’s claims. “Practically, they are out of time on this,” said Mr Palios.
The move would also require a radical shift from Fifa officials, whose immediate reaction to the revelations of dirty tricks Qatar-linked agencies in the Sunday Times was to insist that a full investigation had already been carried out into claims of wrong-doing surrounding the 2018 and 2022 bidding process.
The newspaper printed emails that appeared to show that a public relations company working on behalf of Qatar was involved in a ‘black ops’ campaign to run down its rivals from the United States and Australia. The US was in June awarded the rights to host the first 48-team tournament in 2022 along with Mexico and Canada.
Read more: Qatar World Cup PR executive worked for Syria's Al Assad
In its unsuccessful bid to host the 2018 tournament, the England committee highlighted the seven grounds already built and were ready for the tournament without further renovations needed, such as the stadium that hosts Premier League champions Manchester City, and Arsenal’s Emirates ground in north London.
Since the decision to give the tournament to Qatar in 2010, the stadium that hosted the 2012 Olympics has been retooled to host Premier League football for West Ham United. Tottenham Hotspur – which left its traditional home to play at the national stadium Wembley – has also since returned to a larger ground for the upcoming Premier League season.
Those stadiums – even without the eight others then proposed for renovation or rebuilding - would provide more venues than the eight currently offered by Qatar for the 32-team World Cup. Fifa’s own evaluation report highlighted England’s experience in hosting large-scale international sports events including the 2012 Olympics and the 2015 rugby World Cup. It also cited England as the leading football sponsorship market in the world.
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Read more
Fifa World Cup expansion plan threatens Qatar tournament
Qatar faces ‘major blow’ if 2022 World Cup grows: analysts
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Bonita Mersiades, who was part of the Australian bidding team, said that time was running out for Fifa to change the venue, but said that one sanction could be to force the expansion of the 2018 tournament to 48 teams and insist that matches had to be played across the Middle East.
Whatever the outcome, she said that an independent inquiry was required to return “trust and credibility” to Fifa after a slew of corruption scandals.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
MADAME%20WEB
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20S.J.%20Clarkson%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Dakota%20Johnson%2C%20Tahar%20Rahim%2C%20Sydney%20Sweeney%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
What is Diwali?
The Hindu festival is at once a celebration of the autumn harvest and the triumph of good over evil, as outlined in the Ramayana.
According to the Sanskrit epic, penned by the sage Valmiki, Diwali marks the time that the exiled king Rama – a mortal with superhuman powers – returned home to the city of Ayodhya with his wife Sita and brother Lakshman, after vanquishing the 10-headed demon Ravana and conquering his kingdom of Lanka. The people of Ayodhya are believed to have lit thousands of earthen lamps to illuminate the city and to guide the royal family home.
In its current iteration, Diwali is celebrated with a puja to welcome the goodness of prosperity Lakshmi (an incarnation of Sita) into the home, which is decorated with diyas (oil lamps) or fairy lights and rangoli designs with coloured powder. Fireworks light up the sky in some parts of the word, and sweetmeats are made (or bought) by most households. It is customary to get new clothes stitched, and visit friends and family to exchange gifts and greetings.
Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
