AFC Deputy Director of Competitions Praises Qatar World Cup Stadiums and Infrastructure

Doha, October 03 (QNA) - The Deputy Director of Competitions and Football Events Division at The Asian Football Confederation Avazbek Berdikulov, praised the good infrastructure that the State of Qatar has to host major sporting events in light of its readiness to organize the 2022 World Cup. Berdikulov said that Qatar has demonstrated to the world the possibility of a safe return to football competitions by hosting the group stage matches and up to the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League for the western region of the continent. This came during a video conference conducted to discuss the precautionary measures taken by the State of Qatar during its hosting of the continental championship competitions in a safe atmosphere, and the lessons learned from this experience in organizing major sporting events in light of the Coronavirus pandemic. During his speech at the conference, Berdikulov praised the measures taken by the State of Qatar and its hosting of this tournament, and extended on behalf of the AFC thanks to Qatar for hosting this tournament despite all the difficult circumstances that faced the local organizing committee. He added that the State of Qatar has demonstrated to the world the possibility of a safe return to football competitions, in light of its success in hosting a championship in light of the current Coronavirus crisis, and its handling of positive cases in a fast and safe manner. He explained that with the near return of the qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, the AFC confidence has increased in the possibility of holding these matches in a safe environment, so that the Qatari experience in hosting the AFC Champions League for the western continent is a central aspect of these efforts. Berdikulov stressed that Qatar has a good infrastructure to host major sporting events, and therefore the AFC had no doubt that the Champions League matches would go smoothly, and currently the AFC have one match left in the semi-finals. He praised the 2022 World Cup stadiums that hosted continental matches, as well as the Qatari preparations to host the largest international football event. Berdikulov referred to the great work that has been done in cooperation between the AFC and Qatar to host the sixteen clubs that compete in the group stage together. He explained that Qatar has unique sports facilities, as well as an adequate number of five-star hotels, all of which contributed to the association's approval of Qatar to host this continental tournament. In conclusion, Berdikulov stressed that all the teams that participated in the continental championship in Doha enjoyed the procedures and arrangements that were made during the competitions, as well as the technology of cooling the stadiums in the sports facilities in Qatar. The Senior Consultant to the Minister of Public Health (MOPH) Dr. Abdul Wahab Al Musleh said for his part, that Qatar conducted a staggering 7900 Covid-19 tests during the AFC Champions League matches held in the country in the last three weeks. From the time the teams started arriving in Doha, a strict health and safety protocol was established by the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) that helped in keeping the players and officials safe throughout three weeks, Al Musleh said during the live webinar. "The number of tests we have done so far are 7900. Among the various sub-groups associated with the tournament, the officials of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the Qatar Football Association (QFA), members of the LOC, the hotel staffers and the players and backroom staff of teams were all tested often," Al Musleh said. "Although we had very short time to plan, and with cases in the countries of the participating clubs high, we still managed to put together a very good plan for the tournament. We had written public health protocols that were sent to participating clubs well before the start of the tournament. This was done before the teams arrived in Doha," Al Musleh added. "The health protocols were based on the MOPH guidelines. The guidelines were finalized before the teams arrived here in September after Qatar went through several phases as it lifted the Covid-19 restrictions. We were in Phase Four when the tournament started. The protocol was comprehensive - detailing all aspects of Covid-19 that included prevention, mitigation, response and recovery from this diseases if we found any positive cases. "We put together necessary arrangements for teams, officials, the LOC members. We adopted strict measures at the airport, team hotels, training venues and match stadiums. We did this eyeing any possibilities of a positive case at any of these spots. We asked each team and their traveling delegation to bring a certificate of clearance on Covid-19 before they landed here. Majority of them did. There were certain countries which lacked proper testing. Just before the teams and players entered our bubble-to-bubble area, we wanted to make sure all were negative. We tested arriving delegations when they landed at the airport." he pointed out. Al Musleh added: "We expected to discover sporadic cases during the tournament. This was the reason to set up the bubble-to-bubble environment. I was surprised to see relatively large number of positive cases among one participating club - six members, in fact, after we tested them at the airport. This happened despite the players arriving with certificates of clearance given to them two days prior. "We identified the cases through a process called track and trace. That is part of MOPH guidelines. We got to know they tested positive one night prior to arriving here following a dinner ceremony (before flying out to Doha). So the first cluster was those six players and they were detected on Sept 11. We did the test and got the result in 6-8 hours. "Then we knew the challenges will be big. This was unexpected but we went for fine-tuning right away. Out of the 8000 tests we conducted, we got around 96 positive cases and 56 reactive cases that had mild symptoms," he said. The MOPH official said Qatar has emerged stronger and more confident about hosting top sports events in the future. "The hosting of the matches successfully gives us assurance that the country is ready for hosting international sports events in the future. This experience gives us a boost on our understanding and experience. If for any reason, a sports event happens in similar situations of a pandemic, the country is surely capable of managing it successfully," Al Musleh said. (QNA)