FOOTBALL
The Arab Cup tournament will be
”
played over the same period as the World Cup, so it is as close a simulation to the main
event as we can get, and that will benefit everyone involved
The tournament will be played over the same period as the World Cup - from the end of November to the 18th December - so it is as close a simulation to the main event as we can get, and that will benefit everyone involved.”
“The pitches for the 2022 tournament will feature the most advanced technology available. The team will be looking to identify the optimum growing conditions for the warm season grass, ensuring billiard table levels which will provide the perfect surfaces for the world’s top players.” Specialised workshops to ensure the grounds teams have the best available training have already begun and will continue right through 2021 and beyond. Each company successful in supplying equipment or turf systems to the tournament have to participate in delivering training. After sales service also has to see full support set up in the country. This has not
The team will be looking to identify the optimum growing conditions for the warm season grass, ensuring billiard table
”
levels which will provide the perfect surfaces for the world’s top players
Al Rayan Stadium 54 PC February/March 2021 Alan Ferguson in Qatar
always been the case and, despite significant sums of money being spent on the pitches for previous tournaments, they have not always seen the full value for the money spent. This is one of the key areas that Alan has moved to improve on, and already those involved have given full support to the FIFA education initiative. During lockdown, FIFA delivered virtual
workshops to the Aspire team. These will be rolled out to the contractors, ensuring that everyone in the five-hundred plus strong turf team looking after all the pitches receive the best training. Alan’s aim is that providing this training will ensure the best group of pitches to date are prepared for the 2022 tournament.
Alongside preparations for the upcoming tournaments and monitoring the youth events due in 2022 alongside the Qatar World Cup, future tournaments such as the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and
New Zealand, and even the Men’s World Cup 2026 in America, Canada and Mexico, are well into their planning stages. Alan’s optimism is that the tournaments beyond 2022 will take place in a more familiar way. For now, he is taking it step by step, starting with The Club World Cup. For him, a small return to normality which he hopes will gather pace as the year goes on.
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