Iraq News Now

Qatar

would expectedly face a real dilemma over hosting the World Cup in 2022, after

Kuwait's reports asserted that Kuwait's chances of hosting some of the

tournament's games are limited.

This

comes a week after Oman's Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi confirmed his

country's inability to host some matches of the World Cup.

FIFA

president Gianni Infantino met Kuwait’s emir on Sunday, state media said, amid

reports the Gulf state is in talks to host matches to support Qatar during the

2022 World Cup.

Kuwaiti ruler Sheikh

Sabah al-Ahmed Al-Sabah and the head of the country’s sports federation met

with Infantino on a low-profile visit that began Saturday, Kuwait's official

KUNA news agency said.

Infantino also met with the speaker of Kuwait’s National

Assembly, Marzuk al-Ghanem, and officials of the national football federation, KUNA

said.

FIFA has decided to increase the number of teams in the World

Cup from 32 to 48 come 2026 in the United States, Canada and Mexico – but last

month voted in favor of the increase being implemented starting in Qatar, which

would likely require that neighboring countries host some games.

A final decision on the Qatar proposal, strongly supported by

Infantino, is expected at a FIFA meeting in Paris in June. 

The increase in the number of teams would automatically raise

the number of both games and fans, presenting new logistical challenges to

Qatar. 

Further complicating the matter is the Gulf diplomatic crisis, a

nearly two-year-old diplomatic freeze between Qatar and its rivals.

Saudi

Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain cut all ties with Doha in June 2017,

accusing Qatar of supporting Iran and terrorist groups.