Qatar has decided to decrease the number of World Cup venues from 12 to eight for the 2022 FIFA tournament.
A press conference in Doha on Sunday has revealed that the Qatari organizing committee will now look to go with the reduced number of stadiums after initially proposing to use the maximum of 12 when they were granted the rights in 2010.
Ghanim Al Kuwari, the organizing committee's senior manager for projects, said that the original idea to develop nine new grounds and renovate three existing stadiums has been scrapped in order to cut costs.
Additionally,Bloomberg.com released an e-mail from Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy which stated: "As is the case with any FIFA World Cup, once a country is chosen as host, a review of the bid plans is made with the organizers to propose the final host cities and stadia projects, which then need to be approved by the FIFA Executive Committee.
"The requirement is a minimum of eight and a maximum of 12 stadia."
The report also revealed that Qatar 'plans to spend more than $200 billion on new infrastructure before hosting the sporting event, including $34 billion on a rail and metro system, $7 billion on a port and $17 billion on an airport. The stadiums will cost $4 billion, according to the ministry of business and trade.'
It is believed that the metro system is well behind schedule while the new airport is six years in arrears of its end timetable.
Another issue surrounding the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is the weather conditions in the Middle East during the usual months of June and July. Qatar can reach above 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) during their summer which has prompted calls to move the tournament to winter so it can be held in much more regulated conditions in November and December or December and January.
