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ABU DHABI: Qatar will stage the 2022 World Cup finals alone without seeking help from neighbouring countries, the president of the United Arab Emirates Football Association Mohamed Khalfan al-Rumaithi said on Thursday.
“Nobody came out from Qatar and said 'would you do that?' We are happy for Qatar, they delivered the goods. I think they will go solo,” al-Rumaithi told Reuters.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said recently that Qatar, a minor soccer nation who were awarded the 2022 finals earlier this month, might farm out some matches to other countries in the Gulf.
Speaking at a news conference at the Club World Cup, al-Rumaithi had minutes earlier said: “We have not been approached.
“Qatar won a fair competition and today I read in the news that Mr Blatter said only the Qataris can decide if they want the region to participate in this.
“We know that at that moment when Mr Blatter opened the envelope (during the Zurich vote) it was only Qatar.
“They are our neighbours, they are our brothers...Let's believe in Qatar.”
There have also been suggestions that the finals could be moved from the traditional mid-year period to January because of the intense summer heat in Qatar.
FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke said the idea raised by Germany great Franz Beckenbauer of a winter World Cup in Qatar would have to be raised to executive committee level.
“For now that's not the case,” Valcke said.
“It's too early to talk about a change to what is part of the Qatari bid which was the one on which the executive commitee members made their decision.”
Blatter was to have attended the news conference but went instead to an official 2022 World Cup presentation in Doha.
He will be giving a news cnference in Abu Dhabi on Friday, eve of the Club World Cup final between European champions Inter Milan and Africa's TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
