DOHA: Qatar will become the first country in the Middle East to host a FIFA men’s World Cup, which will kick off from November 21, 2022.
“It (FIFA World Cup) may not be as gigantic (in India) as the Cricket World Cup but the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia drew broadcast audiences of nearly 300 million in India and this is only going to go further up in 2022,” the CEO Nasser Al Khater told PTI in an interview.
“In India, the majority of matches will kick off at convenient times. During the group stage, the first game will start at 15:30 IST and the last game at 00:30 IST. The second and third matches at 18:30 and 21:30 IST respectively, which will both be consumed by prime time evening broadcast audience in India.” he added, expecting more Indian eyeballs than during the 2018 edition.
He signed off by saying “We are definitely open to sharing our knowledge and expertise when it comes to the cooling technology with any country with a similar climate to Qatar who may benefit from it.”
