The 2022 FIFA World Cup was announced to be hosted by Qatar on 2nd December 2010. The next edition of the iconic quadrennial event, is the first World Cup tournament to be hosted by a middle eastern country. Hosting international events such as the Olympics and the World Cup is renowned for boosting the economy of the country/countries hosting the tournament. It is very interesting in this case, as Qatar already possesses the highest GDP (PPP) per capita in the world, approximately $130,000, so the impact the World Cup will have on the nation will not have been seen in previous tournaments.
The largest economic impact that comes from the World Cup is the boost in publicity. Over four billion people watch the event on television, so Qatar will be easily displayed to the world. In addition to the thousands of fans going to the tournament, there will likely be more tourists attracted to Qatar in the aftermath of the World Cup.
On the other hand, there are several negative impacts that can occur. Qatar currently do not have the infrastructure required to kick off the tournament as some stadiums have not completed construction and the Lusail stadium (where the first and last game of the tournament is set to be played) is not due to be fully open until 2021. There is a lack of labour to complete the construction of roads, stadiums and transport systems (services). This is because the Qatari are unwilling to do these jobs as the income returned to people who construct infrastructure is far less than what Qatari earn usually, as they are already the richest citizens in the world.
Qatar hires migrant workers as they Qatar can give smaller wages to these workers in exchange for their labour. A problem that has since issued is that these migrant workers are paid around 35 euros per week which equates to 5 euros per day, while they work for eight hours a day, for six days in a week. The workers were promised they would earn good money. Many Ghanaian migrants applied for the job due to their belief that Qatar is the richest country in the world, and they expected to earn money which they could send back home, but the income they earn is largely insufficient for their own well-being.
Although the World Cup creates thousands of jobs, in Qatar these jobs are taken by migrants, and when the workers return to their countries, their wages go with them, which means that the economy will not have significant growth as money is being taken out of Qatar, which means that there consumer spending will decrease and consequently companies will respond decreasing their production. Most of the 12 stadiums used for the tournament will serve almost no purpose once the event concludes and the annual maintenance costs of stadiums can cost millions of US dollars, the opportunity cost of this is that this money can be used in various other ways which can grow the Qatar economy.
I believe Qatar will benefit in the short-term with the World Cup in their nation, due to the multitude of fans and tourists travelling to the middle eastern nation. However, their economy is unlikely to gain substantial growth due to where the money spent on the tournament is going. But one thing that should be considered is the success of the tournament, as I think that if the tournament is a success, FIFA are likely to conduct more events in Qatar. The nation may put more resources into making football related goods and services, such as academies for young players, and more emphasis to improve the quality of the national team, especially if the Qatar national team shows promising signs in the tournament. Investing in these areas could provide a new source of income for Qatar and can benefit the economy through the World Cup.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1793593-how-qatar-won-the-right-to-host-the-2022-fifa-world-cup
https://ivypanda.com/essays/how-does-the-hosting-of-the-world-cup-2022-affect-qatars-economy/
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/mar/10/qatar-fifa-world-cup-2022-damian-collins
http://econintersect.com/b2evolution/blog1.php/2014/06/02/economic-impacts-of-qatar-world-cup-2022
Year 11 MHS Economics 2020 