Sports

74 days to Qatar 2022 World Cup: Hassan Al Thawadi flying with the times

Published

1 year ago

September 7, 2022

Shipping containers are a menace to Lagos residents. Here, in Qatar Stadium 974 is a sight to behold. It is one of the stadiums that will host the 2022 World Cup starting here in less than 75 days from now.

Stadium 974 was built with 974 containers. They were beaten to shape to produce one of the spectacles of the 2022 World Cup. The same containers that make a mess of Nigerian roads add to the beauty of Qatar, the 2022 World Cup and the history that will be told and retold to generations to come. It is the first World Cup in the Middle East.

It is the first compact World Cup, the first in November and so the first that truly captures the context of the word ‘world’ and it’s meaning to the Mundial. If the World Cup is hosted by a few countries we may begin to redefine the word ‘world’ that actually underscores its global character. It will be wrong to deny any part of the world hosting rights because of their religion, time difference, weather or any natural disposition. And that’s one of the reasons the world will be here in Qatar from November 20 for the World Cup. Summer is considered too hot for football in Qatar but developed the cooling technology which may no longer be necessary since the World Cup will take place in November, the time of the year that is winter in Europe, the Americas and some other places.

Although Qatar installed cooling technology in their stadiums and was ready to host at anytime of the year there was good reason to move it to the conducive period of November and December which will just be about 28 degrees celsius, which Lothar Matthaus says will be ‘lovely for football.’

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The ingenuity of cooling atmosphere, building a stadium with shipping containers are just tips of the iceberg that will behold visitors at 2022 World Cup that Qatar will present in the coming days.

They are also the first in recent history to get their facilities ready even two years before the games. And these are facilities football legends like Ruud Gullit, Lotha Mattaus, Bora Milutinovic, Samuel Eto’o etc have described as the best they have seen for the World Cup. The facilities speak for themselves. Qatar 2022 World Cup is already turning a success even before the games. All eyes are on Hassan Al Thawadi to finish strongly the amazing work he started more than 10 years ago. He is the Secretary General, Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy who was Chief Executive Officer in Qatar’s Bid Committee where he worked closely with Bid Chairman, His Excellency Sheikh Mojammed bin Hamad Al Thani.

They presented a bid world football governing body, FIFA, could not ignore. Having succeeded in winning the hosting right announced in 2010, Hassan Al Thawadi was in March 2011 appointed Secretary General of the Supreme Committee to deliver the amazing World Cup they told the world to dream about when they were still bidding for it. Al Thawadi wormed himself into FIFA family to master the workings of the organisation and football administration.

He has served in many organisations that have prepared him for the onerous task of delivering the most prestigious competition in the world. In 2013 he was appointed into FIFA’s World Cup Organsing Committee as Special Advisor and this is in addition to his position as chairman of 2022 FIFA World Cup LLC, the joint venture between FIFA and the Supreme Committee. Al Thawadi once served as General Counsel for Qatar Investment Authority(QIA) and Qatar Holding, bodies founded by State of Qatar in 2025 to strengthen national economy. His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamin bin Hmmad Al Thani still in 2020 appointed him into the board of Qatar Investment Authority. Al Thawadi holds board positions in National Tourism Council, at Katara Hospitality, Qatar International Islamic Bank and Msheireb properties.

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He is a Joint Advisory Board member at Northwestern University, Qatar and Council member at Hamad bin Khalifa University (College of Humanities and Social Sciences) and Qatar University (College of Business and Economics). He is a lawyer(graduate of law from University of Sheffield in UK) who speaks English, Spanish and French.

His is simply the case of ‘who the cap fits, let him wear it.’ Hassan Al Thawadi has ‘lived’ the Qatar World Cup in the past 11 years. His life revolves around it. And he is flying with the times as far as the 2022 World Cup is concerned. He sits at the head of a committee that is out to present the best World Cup ever to the world. He is running a great race.

When issues were raised about labour conditions in Qatar, Hassan Al Thawadi was at the centre of reforms that have improved the lot of workers. The Supreme Committee knows about Vision 2030 of Qatar and the World Cup is helping to fast-track the economic development expected to make Qatar a bigger player in Middle East and the world in general. Hospitality business will never be the same in Qatar after the World Cup. Tourism will soar, trade and industry will be impacted. Qatar is already better for it as the transformation the country has passed through since 2010 has been tremendous. What with high rising structures, metro system, road expansions, healthcare?

Many marvel at the cooling technology at the stadiums, the beauty that is Al Bayt Stadium that will host the opening match, the masterpiece at Lusail and the ingenuity at Stadium 974. Qatar has a history of trade and Stadium 974 pays tribute to that with 974 containers used to ship things to the Middle East country.

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Interestingly 974 is the international dialing code of Qatar. Creativity has been their hallmark at the Supreme Committee. The hospitality suits at some of the stadiums wow visitors. Al Thawadi has garnered experience from many sectors – administration and organisation as seen with Fifa; business, hospitality, and even humanities as seen in many bodies he has served and continues to serve. He is driving the World Cup amazingly. Everybody is counting the remaining days. The moment is almost here and the world cannot wait to experience the Amazing World Cup Hassan Al Thawadi and his team have promised.

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Sports

Osimhen won’t renew Napoli contract

Published

2 days ago

December 1, 2023

Seun Okerayi

Nigeria international Victor Osimhen’s departure from Napoli is almost looking certain after Italian football transfer expert Fabrizio Romano said the striker was unlikely to renew his contract with the Italian champions,

Osimhen has been linked with several European clubs with English Premier League duo, Chelsea and Arsenal, leading the race for the Nigerians.

Napoli president, Aurelio De Laurentiis, had on several occasions said that the club’s most prized asset would not be sold this summer even if their valuation of €200m was met.

“Osimhen will stay here. He won’t leave,” he told Sky in August.

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Sports

Super Eagles drop two places in latest FIFA rankings

Published

3 days ago

November 30, 2023

Seun Okerayi

The Super Eagles of Nigeria have dropped by two spots in the latest FIFA ranking to place 42nd in the world.

In the ranking table on the website of the world football governing body, on Thursday, the Eagles dropped 16.04 points to rank 1474.44 points as against 1490.48 in October.

However, the drop did not affect the team’s placement on the continent, as it still remained the 6th team on the continent, behind Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt, respectively.

The drop in ranking comes after the Super Eagles were held to a 1-1 draw in their two 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Lesotho on Nov. 16 and Zimbabwe on Nov. 19.

Although Argentina (1st) still leads the way ahead of France (2nd), England (3rd, up 1) is now in the trio of teams at the front of the pack, followed by Belgium (4th, up 1), who have also climbed one place.

Although Brazil (5th, down 2) have lost ground following back-to-back defeats by Colombia and Argentina, they have clung on to their place in the top 5.

The Netherlands (6th, up 1) and Portugal (7th, down 1) have traded places in the top 10, which is once again completed by Spain (8th), Italy (9th) and Croatia (10th).

Uruguay (11th, up 4) have made solid progress, but they have to be content with a place just outside the top 10.

The Comoros Islands (119th, up 9), meanwhile, enjoyed an even better month with wins against the Central African Republic and Ghana, and have two reasons to celebrate as they are now in 119th place, their highest-ever position.

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Kosovo (101st, up 4) may not have climbed as many positions as the Comorans, but the Kosovans are also now higher in the ranking than ever before.

Guinea-Bissau (103rd, up 7), Azerbaijan (114th, up 6), Libya (120th, up 6), Malaysia (130th, up 7) and Rwanda (133rd, up 7) are the other big movers in the November ranking.

The ranking also had the re-entry of Samoa (187th), American Samoa (188th) and Tonga (196th), who were all playing international football again following months of inactivity.

The ranking took into consideration FIFA World Cup qualifiers that took place in African countries as well as in Asia and South America.

The other confederations’ schedules considered included UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying matches, Concacaf Nations League 2023-24 encounters and the Pacific Games 2023.

These matches all had a significant effect on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, including on the make-up of the podium.

Sports

Peseiro to NFF: Pay me, don’t teach me my job

Published

3 days ago

November 30, 2023

Seun Okerayi

Super Eagles coach, Jose Peseiro, told the Nigeria Football Federation Technical Committee not to teach him his job but rather pay him and his team their outstanding allowances,

Peseiro allegedly said this while reacting to the NFF Technical Committee Chairman, Shariff Ahlan’s comment in the wake of his future as Eagles coach, stating that the Eagles job is bigger than the Portuguese.

Ahlan told Peseiro in a meeting in Lisbon, Portugal in October that the Eagles had been struggling due to his poor technical abilities.

“You’re busy to pay me my allowances but not busy to tell me what I will do,” Peseiro replied Ahlan when he was told that he would defend his squad list for subsequent games.

Despite guiding Nigeria to qualification for the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, Peseiro’s uninspiring side trails Rwanda and South Africa in their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on the back of two 1-1 draws against Lesotho and Zimbabwe.

In 15 games in charge of the Eagles, Peseiro has won six and lost six with the three-time African champions scoring 31 times – with 10 coming in one game against Sao Tome and Principe – and conceded 21 goals.

“Henceforth, if I remain in the technical committee, if he submits a professional list he would come and justify the list in front of the committee explaining why he invited each player based on their statistics and club performance.

“From our side, we’ve said Peseiro can’t do the job, if you look at how he runs the affairs of the team it seems the Nigeria national team is bigger than him honestly.”

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Meanwhile, Sports Minister, John Enoh, has summoned Peseiro over the poor performance of the Eagles in the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Enoh made this known during a media parley with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday.

He said, “I am happy to report that I had a meeting with the NFF president, secretary and the Technical Department of NFF regarding the Super Eagles.

“What we came out of that is that I’ve had to request that the coach (Peseiro) be summoned and I think at some point next week there’s going to be an engagement with him.

“All of that is trying to respond to the outcome of these matches, especially the World Cup qualifying games.

While reacting to the call from some football stakeholders that the Portuguese should be sacked over poor results, Enoh said that despite the emotions and passions of Nigerians over football, the decision to sack a coach is not taken due to emotions.

“As a minister, I am concerned that the Nigeria national team is not delivering, not meeting up with our expectations. The Africa Cup of Nations is so close that we need to be careful in what decisions we make but the next qualification rounds for the World Cup, the next match is in June, so it gives us more time to take decisions going forward.

“AFCON is going to start January 13, are we going to request to fire the coach (Peseiro), I mean the answer is as good as mine.

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“I have found out that in this sector, there are passions and emotions. Where you are seated and where I am providing leadership, you don’t respond, you know you are not driven by passions and emotions.”