In few hours tens of thousands of fans will descend on Al Bayt Stadium.The 60,000 capacity venue takes its name from ‘bayt al sha’ar’ – which were tents historically used by nomads in Qatar and the Gulf region.
The design of the stadium honours Qatar’s past and present, while keeping an eye on the future of the community.
Al Bayt Stadium will host nine matches during the FIFA World Cup, including the opening fixture, five other group meetings and three knockout matches.
The stadium, located in Al Khor in northeastern Qatar, has a retractable roof.
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7h ago (09:48 GMT)
Lukakau absent from Belgium training
Belgium star striker Romelu Lukaku was notably absent as the team trained at their base camp near the border with Saudi Arabia, three days before their World Cup opener against Canada on Wednesday.
Lukaku is part of the squad despite the coach not expecting him to be able to call him until after the group stages due to a hamstring injury he suffered in while playing for Inter Milan.
Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku departs for the FIFA World Cup [Johanna Geron/Reuters] -
7h ago (09:28 GMT)
Qatar set for equity boom post tournament
Qatar is gearing up for a FIFA World Cup equity market boom as the country’s stock exchange is all set to benefit from the upcoming colossal event.
With more than $4bn of foreign inflows in the first 10 months of this year alone, equity market experts say that Qatar’s stock market, like most previous World Cup host markets, has outperformed peers in the run-up to the mega contest and is expected to continue along similar lines in the year after the tournament.
Read more here.
Fan Festival before FIFA World Cup 2022 begins in Doha, Qatar [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]