Fully recyclable stadium shows desire to make event unique
IT’S the greenest ground on the planet. The Ras Abu Aboud Stadium, in Doha, is made from 974 old shipping containers.
When the World Cup is over, every single piece of the ground will be recycled. It really is an engineering masterpiece.
Locals just call it the Container Stadium and it will hold 40,000 fans in the Qatari capital.
The 2022 World Cup may be mired in controversy due to the choice of hosts but it promises to be like no other tournament before it.
All the venues are close, the furthest distance between any two is barely 40 miles.
In Lusail, seven miles to the north of Doha, we come face-to-face with what must be the world’s biggest building site.
A new city as big as Newcastle or Leeds is being created around the stadium which will host the final in front of 86,000 fans.
The Qataris promise that it will be finished on time.
DONATE
The Mirror visited both venues, with the Qataris set to donate the Ras Abu Aboud Stadium to various developing countries.
Project manager Mohammed Al Atwan said: “It can be dismantled in full and transported to be built again in a different country; or you could build two 20,000-seater venues.”
After taking the Metro to Lusail, we come across the venue dubbed The Bathtub or Noah’s Ark.
The work being carried out around it beggars belief, with the surrounding city set to be home to 400,000 residents.
As we return to Doha we bump into expat Andy Fenton, who tells us: “I was in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup. There, the poor people paid for the tournament through tax rises.
“Here, the poor people have seen their lives improve financially. A minimum wage has been brought in and poorer people’s lives have improved.
“They still won’t be able to afford tickets for the matches though.”