Nasser Al-Khater, the chief executive of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, said he anticipates his nation's COVID-19 preparedness and lessons learned from this summer's Tokyo Olympics will allow soccer's premier event to take place with packed stadiums.
Al-Khater is hopeful next year's compact tournament, with all eight of the stadiums within 75 kilometers of each other, will be able to fully welcome fans, avoiding a repeat of the nearly spectatorless Tokyo Olympics.
"We feel the Olympics are closer to a World Cup in Qatar because they're all in one city ... It was really an important opportunity for us to go and learn," Al-Khater said on Thursday, the 11th anniversary of Qatar winning its World Cup hosting bid.