Desailly: World Cup in Qatar is Unique Opportunity for the Region

Former French football star Marcel Desailly, who won the 1998 World Cup with his country, stressed the importance of the upcoming World Cup in Qatar at the end of this year, noting that it will bring about a major transformation in the State of Qatar and the entire region.

With the start of the 100-day countdown to the start of the World Cup competitions, which is being held for the first time in the Arab world, and the world's attention is directed to Qatar, Desailly spoke to the website of the Committee for Projects and Legacy, about the impact that the tournament will have on the peoples in Qatar and the surrounding region, and also gave his advice to the players of Qatar national team, who represent the host country, and will play on their land and among their fans.

Desailly praised the Qatar World Cup as the most closely spaced version in the modern history of the tournament, as the maximum distance between stadiums does not exceed 75 km, which will benefit players and fans, as he put it.

He added: "The Qatar World Cup is a distinct version of the World Cups, where four matches will be held in one day within a limited geographical scope, and fans will be able to visit many amazing tourist places in Qatar or travel to neighboring countries on rest days between matches. Also, the convergence of distances will be in the interest of the teams and players, they will have the opportunity to rest enough between matches, with short distances, no need for air travel, and they will be able to stay in the same accommodation and use the same training sites throughout the tournament.”

On the importance of hosting the tournament for the first time in the Arab world and the Middle East; Desailly explained that it is very important to organize the World Cup in different places of the world, and said, "We witnessed it in South Africa in 2010, and it is time to host it in the Middle East this time, especially with the establishment of infrastructure that will boost the economy in Qatar, whether It was stadiums, roads, tunnels, etc."

He continued, "I feel very happy that children and youth in the Arab world and the Middle East will witness the organization of the tournament in their region for the first time after they followed its competitions in other parts of the world. I am very excited to see them live the experience of hosting the World Cup in this region for the first time in the history of the tournament."

It is worth mentioning that Marcel Desailly had a distinguished career in the world of football, in which he won many titles with French club Marseille, Italian AC Milan, and English Chelsea.

He also defended the colors of his country in more than 100 matches and was a key player in the French national team that won the 1998 World Cup and the European Nations Championship 2000.