Dubai: Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman arrived in Qatar to attend the World Cup 2022 opening ceremony on Sunday, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The Crown Prince's visit to Doha comes at the invitation of Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
The biggest tournament in football will begin on Sunday as hosts Qatar will play the opening match against Ecuador.
The opener of the 29-day tournament will start at 1600 GMT at the 60,000-capacity Al Bayt Stadium in the city of Al Khor, 35 kilometers north of Doha.
Over the next 29 days, Qatar’s gleaming, eight architectural venues and the country’s world class infrastructure will welcome fans from all parts of the world for the football extravaganza.
The opening ceremony is scheduled to begin at 5pm, with the Qatar-Ecuador clash taking place two hours later. The gates to the Al Bayt Stadium will open at 2pm as the organisers urged the fans to reach the venue early to avoid congestion.
Organisers said that 2.9m of the 3.1m tickets have been sold, with a sell-out crowd expected Sunday. Also, it is estimated more than 5b people around the world will watch the World Cup, surpassing the 3.5b who tuned in to watch the 2018 tournament in Russia.
