At the last FIFA World Cup in Russia, 19,352 tickets were issued to Indian citizens, making the country among the top-five non-participating viewers with USA and China following the graph.
When the next version of the World Cup kicks off in Qatar – that number is expected in augment significantly.
“Because of the accessibility, Indian fans will be a major fan base that will be moving to Qatar.” Nasser al-Khater, World Cup organizing committee CEO told TOI during an online interactivity on Saturday.
“We know, looking at numbers from 2010 (World Cup), 2014 and 2018, the number of Indian fan base at World Cup is growing more and more. Adding to that, and given the proximity, we expect to see a huge number of Indian fans coming to Qatar for the World Cup.”
Doha is anticipated to greet more than a million fans. The cumbersome task will be to detect accommodation as demand could be elevated in the Gulf nation.
Al-Khater, although, eases any such dismay.
“We have made sure there is plentiful of accommodation and there is something available for all budgets,” he stated.
“The state of Qatar has taken the fans into consideration. The ultimate goal is to have a successful World Cup, and you can only have a successful World Cup when you have fans attending.”
