2022 World Cup -FIFA Considering Oman and Kuwait As Host

FIFA is moving ahead with plans to expand the 2022 World Cup despite the concerns of some officials of the host nation Qatar. The move is a politically uncertain project but is strongly backed by FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino. The project would raise soccer’s biggest championship to 48 teams before the final schedule and it requires to analyze some tricky regional disputes.

Under the plan which is presently being examined, most matches in the 2022 tournament would still be conducted in Qatar — which won the rights to a 32-team event and continues to prepare for the event. But other games would be held in Kuwait and Oman as part of a wider Middle Eastern World Cup. Infantino’s extension plan would not transfer games to countries that are currently leading a political and economic siege of Qatar, like the United Arab Emirates.

The qualification process for the 2022 World Cup has not still been declared. All FIFA member organizations, of which there are presently 211, are eligible to enter the qualification process. Qatar, as hosts, made it automatically to the tournament. However, Qatar is required by the AFC to compete in the Asian qualifying stage as the first two rounds also serve as the qualification for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. If they enter the final stage, their choice on whether to advance with World Cup qualifying is subject to FIFA approval. If the hosts choose not to play, the next-ranked team will come forward instead. Apart from the first two tournaments of 1930 and 1934, this is the first time, the World Cup will be hosted by a country whose national team has never entered the finals of World Cup. The ruling World Cup champions France will also participate in qualifying stages as normal.

The distribution of slots for each confederation was reviewed by the FIFA Executive Committee on 30 May 2015 in Zurich after the FIFA Congress. The committee decided that the same allocation as 2018 would be kept for 2022 tournaments

Infantino was elected as FIFA president in 2016 and attempting re-election to a four-year term in June. He has been among the biggest advocates of an expanded World Cup, through additional places for FIFA’s member associations. Enhanced sponsorship revenue, could prove successful among countries that rarely get to play in the tournament.

A final call on the plan was assumed to be made next week when FIFA’s governing council meets in Miami, but Infantino has planned to move the final decision to FIFA’s annual Congress in June, where he is attaining uncontested for re-election.

Charges of corruption have been made associating to how Qatar won the right to host the event. A FIFA internal investigation and report freed Qatar of any wrongdoing, but the chief investigator Michael J. Garcia has since expressed FIFA's report on his probe as "materially incomplete and inaccurate". On 27 May 2015, Swiss federal prosecutors started an inquiry into corruption and money laundering related to the granting of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. On 6 August 2018, former FIFA president Sepp Blatter alleged that Qatar had used "black ops", proposing that the bid committee had cheated to acquire the hosting rights. Qatar is under strong blame for the unethical treatment of foreign workers engaged in preparation for the World Cup, with Amnesty International referring to "forced labor" and saying that workers have been experiencing human rights abuses, despite worker welfare rules being drafted in 2014.