Saudi Gazette

RIYADH — The Ministry of Sports announced on Thursday that more than 500 volunteers from Saudi Arabia will participate in the Qatar World Cup 2022, which will be kicked off on Nov. 20.

Addressing the sixth periodic press conference, organized by the Ministry of Sports, to talk about the arrangements for the World Cup, Ibrahim Al-Qassem, secretary general of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, revealed that there will be 5,000 Green Falcons fans who have been placed in the Saudi national team’s league, in preparation for the World Cup.

“Today we launched an opportunity in the ‘Qadam’ application, in coordination with FIFA, and we will work to launch more tickets for the coming period. The World Cup is not the same as it was 70 years ago, and it is no longer just a tournament in football,” he said.

Al-Qassem noted that there are 5,000 fans in the National League to encourage it. “We have identified 100 fans from each club in the professional league, as well as 30 fans from the rest of the first-class clubs, and the rest of the grades are according to each club’s status in its league. Regarding the clubs that were sending a smaller number, we asked them to increase their number of fans,” he added.

Hammad Al-Balawi, director general of Strategic Planning at the Ministry of Sports, said that the number of participants in the knowledge exchange and volunteering program for the World Cup accounts for more than ten government agencies, 20 employees, and 500 volunteers. “We have supported the Saudi Arabian Football Federation to secure the attendance of fans in the World Cup, and we worked with various parties to facilitate the Saudi fan’s journey,” he pointed out.

Ahmed Almusained, director general of Marketing and Corporate Communication at Matarat Holding Company said that the frequency of flight services to Qatar has been increased from Nov. 13 to Dec. 24, to more than 2,300 scheduled flights. “There are five airports operating the World Cup flights, and they are King Khalid International Airport, King Abdulaziz International Airport, King Fahd International Airport, Prince Naif International Airport, and Prince Muhammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport,” he said.

On his part, Saleh Al-Zuwaid, spokesman of the Public Transport Authority, said that they have arranged free shuttle transportation service between Salwa and Abu Samra land ports around the clock. “We have provided shuttle transportation service with 55 buses, in addition to 142 buses between Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam airports,” he pointed out.

Hammoud Al-Harbi, spokesman of the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, said: “We have increased the capacity of the Salwa port routes, and we have increased the number of checkpoints and cabins. The capacity to receive fans via buses has also been increased.”

For his part, Faisal Al-Balawi, executive director of the Decision Support Department at the Saudi Tourism Authority, revealed that they launched the Hadhireen platform to enrich the experience of tourists during the World Cup in eight different languages. “We have also made coordination with the relevant authorities to answer inquiries and address complaints around the clock through the joint call center 911,” he added.