Qatar 2022 staff gain valuable tournament experience during Euro 2020

Qatar 2022 staff gain valuable tournament experience during Euro 2020

With only 17 months to go until Qatar hosts the FIFA World Cup, staff from the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) and FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LLC (Q22) have been gaining major tournament experience by supporting the delivery of the UEFA European Championship. Twenty-seven employees from a range of functional areas are supporting the tournament, which is being held across 11 cities from 11 June to 11 July. The secondment programme aims to enhance participants’ competition knowledge while increasing their operational expertise. This is one of the final opportunities for staff to work at a major tournament following similar secondment and observation programmes – most notably during the Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018 FIFA World Cups. Later this year, Qatar will deliver the FIFA Arab Cup – which will help the country test infrastructure and planning ahead of the World Cup. Aisha Al Jehani, Non-Competition Venues Planning and Operations Senior Manager at the SC, has been working as a VIP Venue Manager at Russia’s Saint Petersburg Stadium, which will host matches up to the quarter-finals stage of Euro 2020 after previously being used as a semi-final venue during Russia 2018. ‘Having the opportunity to support Euro 2020 at a stadium that previously hosted World Cup matches holds special significance for me, seeing that I am here to improve my ability to deliver Qatar 2022 – the first World Cup to be hosted in the Middle East and Arab world,’ said Al Jehani.