SC
Thousands of people visited the Qatar @roadto2022 Exhibition in Sao Paulo to find out more about the next FIFA World Cup™ host nation.
The installation, at JK Iguatemi mall, was organised by the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) and Qatar Football Association (QFA) – and coincided with Qatar’s participation in the Copa America for the first time.
Almost 10,000 people visited the exhibition, which featured FIFA World Cup™ memorabilia, crowdsourced photographs, models of the eight Qatar 2022 stadiums and details about Qatar’s Asian Cup victory. In addition, the SC announced Brazilian football legend Cafu as its latest ambassador during the exhibition run. Twice a FIFA World Cup™ winner, Cafu joins Xavi Hernandez, Samuel Eto’o and Mohamed Sadoon Al Kuwari as an SC ambassador.
The SC also launched Spanish social media accounts on Facebook (Road to 2022 Espanol) and Instagram (@roadto2022es) during the exhibition. The accounts are proving very popular and have attracted more than 125,000 followers in just two weeks.
Nasser Al Khater, FIFA World Cup Qatar LLC Chief Executive Officer, said: “Qatar’s participation in the Copa America provided the perfect opportunity for us to engage with people who will be interested in traveling to our country for the World Cup in 2022.
“It was a delight to meet so many passionate football fans and give them a glimpse of what our tournament will be like in just over three years’ time. We hope many of them will travel to Qatar and enjoy our famous hospitality when we host the first World Cup in our region.”
Mansoor Al Ansari, QFA General Secretary, said: “We were delighted to collaborate with the SC on this project and share details of the next FIFA World Cup host nation with a new set of fans. We are sure many of them will feel inspired to visit our country when we proudly host the biggest football event in the world in 2022.”
The exhibition was supported by eight volunteers who live in Sao Paulo. All the volunteers had signed up to support the SC’s Volunteer Programme, which attracted more than 250,000 expressions of interest last year, including 148 people based in Brazil.
One of the volunteers, Bassan Hamoudi Assani, said he was delighted to support the delivery of the exhibition, which ran from 14-24 June.
“It’s been very interesting to learn about the World Cup, along with the story and history of Qatar,” said Assani. “I’m sure they will host a fantastic tournament in 2022.”
Al Khater thanked the volunteers for their hard work during the exhibition.
“The volunteers did an outstanding job. They were all hard working and enthusiastic – and it was a joy for our team to work alongside them. We’re very proud that our worldwide callout for volunteers last year helped the delivery of this event.”