Al Thawadi says World Cup was transformational, time will tell

By Andrew Warshaw

December 20 - Qatar's World Cup chief Hassan Al Thawadi insists the tournament has changed perceptions of the region and transformed his country.

But while the Gulf state may have defied doubts that could host such a huge event while showcasing its hospitality and organizational skills, the true legacy of the first-ever World Cup in the Middle East Orient cannot really be measured for weeks or even months. .

The final may have been the best ever and some of the shock results that preceded it are unprecedented, but that surely had nothing to do with where the competition actually took place .

In other words, Qatar got lucky with all the excitement while opinion is still polarized over whether the country should have hosted the competition in the first place.

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In an interview with Sky, Al Thawadi, Secretary General of Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, promised that the improved treatment of migrant workers was here to stay.

"We have strived for this tournament to be an accelerator to improve the conditions for labor reforms because the situation before was not acceptable despite the best intentions", he admitted.

Al Thawadi described the past four weeks as "a celebration of the Arab people, our culture, our tradition, our history".

"People can have different opinions. And I've heard many, especially Europeans, say they may have come to support the team - but with concern, a bit of concern.< /p>

"But when they engaged with the Qatari community, when they engaged with the Arab community, when they engaged with hospitality, many of them came away with a different opinion, a different point of view."

That's true to a large extent, though there was a somewhat cosmetic and contrived feel to the whole show at times. There were few or no traditional car horns on the streets, for example, and few or no vehicles or homes displayed flags outside their windows.

The Middle East as a whole deserved to host the tournament - the thousands of Arab and North African fans who flocked to the country are testament to that. But Qatar's pitiful exit from the group stage only served to show they couldn't live with established footballing nations despite all the pre-tournament rhetoric.

There is also no evidence that the Gulf state, for all its wealth and sophistication, will suddenly become a major tourist destination like neighboring Dubai.

This World Cup will forever be remembered as the fulfillment of Lionel Messi's dream and there is no doubt that it benefited from his unique compact nature and the cheery disposition of thousands of football fans. East and West blending in a confined but ultra-safe environment.

But the key question, now that the PR machine is shutting down, is whether FIFA's controversial decision 12 years ago was ultimately vindicated.

Only time will tell what kind of legacy will remain - on and off the pitch.

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