With three new stadiums opening and Qatar’s very own FIFA mascot to be revealed, 2021 is an exciting year for 2022 FIFA World Cup announcements.

May of next year will see two more World Cup stadiums opening in Qatar, according to the new Qatar Calendar 2021, published by the Qatar National Tourism Council. 

Ras Abu Aboud and Al Thumama stadiums are set to be inaugurated five months from now, just in time for the Amir Cup.  

The 80,000-capacity Lusail Stadium, which will hold the FIFA 2022 World Cup final, is also scheduled to open in December 2021.

The Qatar FIFA World Cup mascot is also set to be unveiled in February, the calendar revealed.

After the global football tournament, the stadium will be entirely dismantled and repurposed for a better cause.

Read also: Qatar planning ‘normal’ post-pandemic FIFA World Cup 2022

“Ras Abu Aboud Stadium will be the first fully demountable and re-usable tournament venue in FIFA World Cup™ history. Designed by Fenwick Iribarren Architects, this 40,000-capacity stadium will be built using shipping containers and other modular materials,” FIFA said in a press release.

The 40,000-seat Al Thumama Stadium, however, will host the tournament’s matches through the quarter-finals, making the reveal much more exciting for all football fans across the world.  

Earlier this month, Nasser Al-Khater, CEO of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LLC said Qatar is set to host a normal post-pandemic World Cup event in 2022.

Al-Khater said that the country is planning the “complete normal” games following the current progress being made in the production of vaccines after the rapid progress in producing vaccines for the coronavirus.

“The introduction of the vaccine and the rollout of the vaccine, it’s definitely good news for everybody,” Al-Khater told the AP.

The country is now counting down the days to host the long-anticipated World Cup with less than two years remaining on the clock.

Qatar will not only be the first to host the event in the Middle East, but will also be the first ever to host it during November and December – instead of June and July – due to the hot climate.

“When the announcement was made for the World Cup to be played in November and December, obviously at that time there was a lot of feedback about the disruption to the different calendars of the leagues,” said Al-Khater. 

Billions of dollars were spent to build hotels, a new and developed transport system, as well as the construction of eight state-of-the-art stadiums.

Doha anticipates some 1.5 million football fans to visit Qatar for the 2022 World Cup.

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