Qatar says World Cup would be worth 'billions'

The new report, which was carried out by global advisory services firm Grant Thornton, seeks to highlight the potential commercial and football development opportunities that would be unleashed if Qatar is awarded the rights to host the Cup.

The report says the region has 'massive untapped football development potential, and that Qatar will deliver a commercially successful FIFA World Cup and act as the catalyst to help drive the growth of football across the Middle East'.

Putting the potential opportunities in concrete terms, the report said awarding the Cup to FIFA would grow the value of football in the region by $14bn by 2022 and by a further $10bn by 2042.

"Grant Thornton's report helps to quantify the significant commercial and football development opportunities for FIFA and football if the Middle East has the historic opportunity to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022,' said Hassan al-Thawadi, chief executive of Qatar 2020, which commissioned the report.

'We can see many millions of new fans participating, watching and consuming football. We know the passion for football in the Middle East. The missing piece of the jigsaw is having the FIFA World Cup as the catalyst to unlock a whole new generation of fans and players.'

Given Qatar's central location between Europe and Asia, 82% of the world's time zones would receive games live in prime time, with a potential match day peak audience of 3.2 billion viewers. "This has the potential to create an enhanced rights value for FIFA," the report said.

Football pay TV broadcast rights in the region would also rise by 30% to $550m by 2022 if the Cup is held in the Middle East, the report added.

FIFA raises concerns

Qatar's bid to win rights to host the Cup received a blow earlier this month when FIFA issued a technical report saying that holding the tournament in the Gulf country would pose health risks.

"The fact that the competition is planned in June/July, the two hottest months of the year in this region, has to be considered as a potential health risk for players, officials, the FIFA family and spectators, and requires precautions to be taken," the FIFA report said. FIFA also raised concerns about whether the small country would be able to handle the influx of some 400,000 fans.

Qatari officials say they have addressed these issues by constructing stadiums and training grounds that will be cooled to 27 degrees through the use of environmentally-friendly solar-powered technology.

A new metro system is also in the works that would connect every stadium, with venues no more than one hour apart from each other. Meanwhile, bid leaders have promised that 95,000 hotel rooms would be available by 2022, well above the 60,000 that are needed to meet FIFA requirements.

"The passion for football in the Middle East and the enthusiastic support for Qatar's bid to host the FIFA World Cup in the region for the first time is evident wherever one travels in the Middle East. We are excited to be part of a process of what we hope will be part of football and Middle East history," said Grant Salter, director of Grant Thornton.