Qatar bids to host 2022 World Cup

Qatar has hosted the Asian Games and hosts the Asian Cup in 2011

Qatar is among 11 countries officially in contention to host the 2022 World Cup, the governing body for world football, Fifa, says.

Qatar has hosted the Asian Games and is due to host the Asian Cup in 2011.

Eleven candidates have now formally registered their intention to submit bids by the deadline in December 2009.

Qatar and South Korea have applied only for the 2022 finals. The other nine candidates are bidding to host the 2022 and 2018 tournaments.

They are Japan, Mexico, the United States and four European countries - England and Russia and, as joint bidders, Spain and Portugal, and Belgium and the Netherlands.

I do believe that it is a historical moment for Qatar that its bid has been approved by Fifa, and this will be a good and positive thing not only for Qatar but for the whole region

Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad al-Thani
President of the Qatar bid

Qatar hosted the Asian Games in 2006 and is due to host the Asian Cup in 2011.

"Qatar has made a bid because it has the ability to host such a big and important tournament, added to that its ability to represent the Middle East region in the football world," said Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad al-Thani, president of the Qatar bid.

"I do believe that it is a historical moment for Qatar that its bid has been approved by Fifa, and this will be a good and positive thing not only for Qatar but for the whole region."

Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president said: "We are very pleased about the fantastic level of interest in our flagship competition, with all initial bidders confirming their candidature.

"The diversity and quality of the contenders will make this a very interesting selection process. This shows the importance of the FIFA World Cup as a truly universal event and the global power of this competition to help achieve positive change, in line with our claim: For the Game. For the World."

The next stage for the applicants is to submit their bidding agreements by 11 December 2009.