Supreme Committe for Delivery & Legacy
During his recent visit to Doha, legendary goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel said Qatar's unique hosting concept and cooling technology will make for the perfect tournament for fans, players and officials.
In a wide-ranging interview with sc.qa, the treble-winning Manchester United goalkeeper also heaped praise on Doha's unique hospitality and said he hopes Qatar will follow in Russia's footsteps when it comes to changing perceptions through hosting the FIFA World Cup™.
Welcome to Qatar, we hope you have enjoyed your first visit to Doha and seeing our 2022 FIFA World Cup™ plans. Can I begin by asking you what elements of the planning and infrastructure have impressed you most?
After what I've seen here over the past couple of days, I have to say that I am very much looking forward to the World Cup in Qatar. It was a great experience to be in Russia and be so close to the whole event. Four years is a long time, but I'm already very excited about what is going to happen here.
I'm hugely impressed with what I've just seen at Aspire Academy. There won't be many football clubs in the world who have facilities that come close to that. The only one I can think of is Manchester City, and even that is nowhere near as good. The hope is that the money and ideas invested in this manifests itself in producing a competitive Qatari team in four years' time.
At Khalifa International Stadium you experienced the stadium cooling technology Qatar is pioneering. What are you first impressions of that?
This has always been one of the big issues about Qatar hosting the World Cup – the climate. It's not in the normal World Cup slot, where it could be 50C at pitch level, but it's still got the potential to be in the high 20s – and when you add to that the increase you will get at pitch level – the cooling technology becomes very important.
After visiting Khalifa Stadium I've now experienced how the stadiums are going to be cooled down – and the cooling system wasn't even turned fully on, just the fans – and just by having those on, the difference between being outside the stadium and inside is incredible. When you can control the temperature like that – to whatever temperature you see fit – I don't see the weather being a problem for the actual games.
As someone who played at the 1998 FIFA World Cup™ in France, how much do you think the compact nature of Qatar 2022 will help the players?
Even though France is not as vast as other host countries, we had to fly to every game. Our base camp was near Marseille and our first game was in Lens, which is at the other end of the country. You have to drive for an hour to get to the plane, then the flight, then more time in a bus at the other end to get to your next venue. Then do it all again after the game. So to have everything in such close proximity, you cut all that out. I really like that idea.
You have to be in the stadium the day before a game and travelling takes it out of you. When you travel the day before you risk losing one or two per cent of your capability to tiredness and fatigue. So many teams now travel two days before, and you arrive at the satellite hotels – which often aren't great – a long time ahead of the game. Because it's not your base, boredom can sometimes kick in. But there will be none of that here – you'll be in the same hotel from the first day you arrive to the last day you're here, so all of those concerns and problems are completely alleviated. That really is a great advantage to the teams, and I know the players will really like that.
You have recently experienced a FIFA World Cup™ from a non-playing perspective, how do you think the compact tournament will benefit fans?
Logistically it will be very easy for the fans. The metro will be finished soon, which will allow fans to move around from one ground to the other very quickly. The roads are being expanded, while there's also a tram system, train system and water taxis. There's a lot in place to make this so easy for fans. That's one thing they did really well in Russia – despite the distances between venues, the infrastructure was really good – and the fans, by having a fan pass, could jump on any train they wanted to. And everyone found it relatively easy.
Qatar and the LOC [Local Organising Committee] has challenges too. Fans will come here wanting to have a good time – many will have saved for a long time to come and watch the World Cup and there will be a lot of things they want to do. Many will come here and be wanting to have a party – a great party that lasts for as long as their team is involved, and they should be allowed to have that party. That's one of the major success stories of Russia 2018, that everyone who travelled really had a good time. It should be a benchmark for all future tournaments.
Finally, Russia 2018 proved hugely positive for the overall perception of the country. How much of an opportunity do these events provide when it comes to winning over hearts and minds?
Absolutely, the opportunity is definitely there. Russia is a perfect example of people thinking one thing about a country, and quickly realising that many of the negative stereotypes they may have been exposed to beforehand were wrong. For instance, security – many people may think Qatar is unsafe, but coming here you quickly realise you're probably in one of the safest places on the planet.
In Russia it was the potential for violence, but there was literally nothing. So many people I met came away commenting on how friendly and accommodating the country was. It just shows the opportunity the World Cup provides to showcase your country to the world, and I think Qatar has every chance to do exactly that.