Wales, Australia, and Costa Rica Flags Raised in Doha

Doha completed the flag-raising ceremony of the countries qualified for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, on Friday 17 June, by adding the flags of the three countries whose teams qualified from the playoffs, namely Wales, Australia, and Costa Rica.

The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy organized a ceremony on Doha Corniche on the occasion of completing the number of 32 teams qualified for the World Cup.

The ceremony was held in the presence of His Excellency Mr. Hassan Al Thawadi, Secretary-General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, Mr. Nasser Al Khater, CEO of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, Mr. Mansour Al Ansari, Secretary-General of the Qatar Football Association, and Mr. Khalid Ali Al Mawlawi, Head of Tournament Experience, and in the presence of His Excellency Mr. Jonathan Muir, Australia's ambassador to Qatar, and Alvaro Mariano Segura Avila, Costa Rica's ambassador to Qatar.

The flag-raising ceremony came as a welcome to the three teams that qualified recently, and to their fans in Qatar, which will host the event at the end of this year.

On this occasion, His Excellency Mr. Jonathan Muir, Australia's ambassador to Qatar, expressed his happiness at his country's qualification for the World Cup in Qatar, and his pride in raising his country's flag with the countries qualifying for the major sporting event in football.

In a press statement, he said that his country's qualification for the World Cup is a source of happiness and pride, after adding a new achievement to his achievements by being among the best 32 teams in the world that qualified for the finals.

He added, "It was amazing moments and a special night for Australia in which the team made its fans happy as it achieved a qualification from the annex."

The ambassador stressed that, through his presence in Doha for three years, he is fully aware that Qatar will impress the world by hosting the major event at the end of this year, due to its great capabilities in organizing tournaments and sporting events, as well as the Qatari hospitality.

It is worth noting that the qualifying countries for the tournament, which will be held from November 21 to December 18 of this year 2022, are: Qatar (the host country ), France (titleholders), Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, England, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Wales (for Europe), Brazil (the record holder for the number of titles wins), Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay (for South America), Iran, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Australia ( For the Asian continent), Mexico, Canada, the United States of America, Costa Rica (for North and Central America and the Caribbean), Ghana, Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia, and Cameroon (for the African continent).

While the World Cup witnesses the absence of a number of teams that include some world football stars, such as Mohamed Salah, who failed to lead his country Egypt to the World Cup after losing to Senegal in penalty shootouts.

Manchester City star Riyad Mahrez also failed to qualify after Algeria lost to Cameroon in a deadly time.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, AC Milan star, failed to qualify after Sweden lost to Poland, and the same was true of the rising Norwegian star who recently moved to Manchester City, Erling Haaland, where his country, Norway, failed to qualify for the World Cup, as well as Real Madrid and Austria star David Alaba.