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Fifa confirms winter Qatar World Cup

Qatar 2022 World Cup final will take place on 18 December.

Fifa, the world football governing body, has announced that the 2022 football World Cup in Qatar will be held in late Autumn with the tournament final taking place on 18 December, Qatar’s National Day.

According to a BBC report, Fifa also said that it was considering shortening the tournament to 28 days instead of the usual 31-32 days in order to allow fans and players to get home in time for Christmas.

The announcement is a boost to Qatar’s projects industry, which is accelerating activity on the country’s infrastructure development programme in advance of the tournament.

Currenty, some $282bn worth of projects are planned or underway in Qatar, with $135bn of major project contracts expected to be awarded by 2022.

According to projects tracking database MEED Projects some $30bn worth of contracts will be awarded in 2015 and 2016, with construction activity peaking in 2016-2018.

The announcement comes one month after a Fifa taskforce recommended that the tournament should be switched from summer to winter because of health concerns over players.

Fifa’s director of communications Walter De Gregorio told the BBC: “This is for us an important step.”

Source:  MEED

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