Jamie Hutton

jamie@huttonsandpartners.com

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Football fan or not, you can’t deny the excitement that surrounds the World Cup each time it comes around.

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A competitive streak and an unwavering patriotism sweep the nation more than any other time and I love to see the excitement from everyone as we all hope that the success of the Lionesses will spur the Lions to follow suit 🤞

This World Cup is unique in many ways. Firstly, it’s the first time that the tournament will take place in November and December due to the soaring temperatures in Qatar in the summer months.

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It’s also quite controversial as the games will be played across only eight stadia, the fewest since the 70s.

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I find the stories behind the eight stadia fascinating: several being brand new (with impressive architectural designs), built specifically to accommodate this tournament, they are also designed to be as green as possible.

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The Al Rayyan Stadium, for one, is built on the site of another former stadium which had been demolished to pave the way for this one. But what’s interesting is that over 90% of the rubble from the demolition was used to build the Al Rayyan Stadium – pretty resourceful!

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Another one, Ras Abu Aboud Stadium, is made up of 974 shipping containers in honour of their industrial heritage and in connection with the international dialling code for Qatar, which is +974. Furthermore, the venue (nicknamed Stadium 974) is a temporary site and will be fully dismantlable once the World Cup ends, with sources claiming that the containers will be used to provide assistance to underdeveloped countries around the world.

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But it’s the Lusail stadium, with its 80,000 capacity and shimmering gold exterior, that has caught my eye. It’s undeniably brilliant and, being brand new, I’d love to experience watching a match in this location.

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Where will you be following along? Have you been able to secure tickets to see any matches in one of the stadiums in Qatar? Or will you be at home? Or down your local?

I’d love to hear. And if you’re heading to Qatar, I want to hear all about it!

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For those of you, like me, watching mostly from home, here’s the full schedule:

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FIFA World Cup 2022 Schedule

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Enjoy!

Jamie

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