Dubai: Over half — 57 per cent — of young Arabs believe Qatar was the right choice to host the 2022 Fifa World Cup while two-thirds — 67 per cent — think the tournament will encourage the development of football across the Arab world, according to the sixth annual Asda’a Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey. Support for a Qatar World Cup is strongest in the GCC countries, with 61 per cent of respondents saying the Gulf state was the right choice to host the tournament compared to 54 per cent in non-GCC Arab countries.
Over a quarter — 26 per cent — of youth in non-GCC countries and 25 per cent in the Gulf states “don’t know” if Qatar was the right choice while 14 per cent in GCC countries and 20 per cent in non-GCC countries said it was the wrong choice.
Qatar beat off bids from Australia, Japan, the US and South Korea for the right to stage the 2022 World Cup, but the decision has been criticised due to weather concerns and allegations of corruption.
In all, 3,500 Arab men and women aged between 18 and 24 were surveyed from the six GCC countries of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, as well as Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Yemen and Palestine, between December 2013 and January 2014.
Optimism about the development of football in the Arab world on the back of the tournament is consistent between the GCC and non-GCC countries. Just over two-thirds of respondents — 68 per cent — from the GCC agreed that Qatar hosting the tournament will positively impact the game, compared to 64 per cent in non-GCC countries.
Only 18 per cent of young Arabs aged 18-24 were not convinced that the tournament would have a positive impact on football in the region while 17 per cent said they “don’t know”.
Asda’a Burson-Marsteller CEO Sunil John said: “Support for a Middle East Fifa World Cup remains high across the Arab world with two-thirds of all youth agreeing that Qatar’s hosting right will encourage the development of football across the region. Despite the ongoing controversy surrounding the bid, there appears a great deal of optimism amongst youth that the Gulf state was the right choice to host the tournament.”
