February 28 – FIFA have competed another stadium inspection visit to Qatar focussing on various stadium facilities, including competition areas, ticketing, marketing, media, broadcasting, IT, hospitality, protocol, security and health and safety.
By Samindrra Kunti
February 22 – Bolivia has offered to join Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay in their bid to host the 2030 World Cup, promoting the idea of a pan-South American World Cup.
February 21 – In a transparent exercise in mutual back-slapping Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on Gianni Infantino to help ensure last year’s World Cup has a long-term legacy which isn’t always the case with World Cup hosts.
February 18 – Gianni Infantino is repeating the same rhetoric ahead of next month’s decision-making FIFA Council session in Miami saying he is “optimistic” about expanding the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to 48 teams but warned that it would “not be easy”.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 15 – Chile are to join Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay in bidding to stage the 2030 World Cup in what, if successful, would be the first ever four-nation joint hosting.
February 13 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino made a surprise visit to Doha on Tuesday as Qatar marked National Sports Day.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 12 – A political spin doctor who worked for Britain’s Conservative party attempted to scupper Qatar’s bid to stage the 2022 World Cup according to UK reports.
By David Owen
February 6 – FIFA has moved to assert control over the Qatar 2022 World Cup delivery process. The governing body has announced establishment of a joint venture with the Qatar 2022 Local Organising Committee (LOC) that will take responsibility for the planning and delivery of operations and services for the tournament, scheduled for the first time for a northern-hemisphere winter.
February 6 – World Cup hosts Qatar have responded to claims by Amnesty International that time is running out to implement globally acceptable labour reforms by pledging the country is entirely committed to stopping widespread abuse.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 24 – As the Asian Cup moves towards its eagerly awaited conclusion, one of the elephants in the room is the extent to which the United Arab Emirates, as hosts, are putting on a show worthy of being viewed as potential sharers of the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
January 3 – Drinking alcohol at the World Cup in 2022 is already a highly sensitive subject and now Qatar are set to introduce a 100% tax on all alcohol sales.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 2 – Brand new year, same old rhetoric from FIFA about an expanded World Cup in 2022.
December 28 – A New York rabbi says he has been asked by Qatar for advice on how to plan for Jewish fans at the 2022 World Cup, the first to be held in a predominantly Muslim country.
December 20 – After weeks of conjecture about whether he is back in favour, Vitaly Mutko, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, has finally thrown in the towel at the head of the Russian Football Union (RFU).
By Paul Nicholson in Qatar
December 18 – In exactly four years’ time Qatar will be hosting the final of the 2022 World Cup in the Lusail Stadium in Lusail City. It will be a double celebration for the country, whether they make the final or not, as December 18 is their National Day.