Qatar slashes World Cup budget by up to 50 percent

Qatar has chopped its budget for the FIFA World Cup 2022 by up to 50 percent and could build as few as eight stadiums for the event, according to a senior official.

Hassan Al Thawadi, secretary general of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy organising the tournament, told CNNMoney the original budget had been reduced by between 40-50 percent.

“We wanted to ensure there is financial responsibility in relation to the infrastructure relating to the World Cup,” he said. “That’s why we had set an initial budget early on and made a commitment towards reducing it as the market became clearer, as the project became clearer, as we define the scope.”

Qatar is proposing to build just eight venues for the World Cup which would be the lowest number since it was held in Argentina in 1978 when only 16 teams participated, half the number that will be in Qatar in 2022.

FIFA has yet to approve the number of venues for 2022 but there were 12 at the last World Cup in Brazil in 2014.

In February it was widely reported that Qatar was spending as much as $500mn per week on infrastructure projects in preparation for the tournament in 2022.

Finance minister Ali Shareef Al-Emadi was quoted as saying the government would spend over $200bn on infrastructure as well as the stadiums.