Ricardo Trade: 'Qatar is well advanced with preparations for 2022'

Lending his experience and considerable expertise after successfully leading the team that delivered the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™, Ricardo Trade is a frequent visitor to Qatar. During his recent visit to Doha for the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy's (SC) knowledge transfer event, Trade took time to sit down with www.sc.qa to talk in detail about the experiences gained in Brazil and how they can be applied to Qatar.

Trade stressed that he was impressed with the advanced stage of preparations in Qatar seven years in advance of the tournament, in part due to observation missions like those to Brazil and other major tournaments around the world. Despite Brazil's hosting concept being very different, Trade is also a fan of the idea of the first-ever compact FIFA World Cup™.

He said: "To be honest with you the thing here is that you are so advanced. If you compare it with Brazil, we started thinking of the stadiums for the World Cup in 2010 and here we're talking seven years in advance. In Qatar you are so prepared with the planning process, sending people to World Cups and events like the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand. I think you're in good preparation for the World Cup and if you continue like this, it will be a nice and well-planned tournament."

"In Brazil we're a big country and need to promote our different areas such as the Amazon, the beaches in the northeast, and convince the world that Brazil is not only Sao Paulo and Rio, but here I think it will be like the Olympics," Trade told www.sc.qa.

The CEO of the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ also provided insight on how to deal with the media. On one occasion, Trade said that he and Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima, or El Fenomeno, traveled to the United Kingdom to speak to Sky News and The Daily Telegraph. "I went to The Telegraph and Sky News with Ronaldo El Fenomeno to prove that we are able before the World Cup. Of course they were skeptical, but we said: 'No. We will deliver, we will deliver, we will deliver!' Believe until the end," he said.

Comparing it to Qatar's approach to make 2022 a tournament for the entire region, Trade saw Brazil 2014 as a continental success for all South Americans. He said that fans flooded in by plane, car, bus and even motor-home from neighboring countries like Ecuador, Argentina or Chile.

On a FIFA World Cup™ trophy tour to these countries, Trade added: "I'm very enthusiastic to say that the World Cup in Brazil was a tournament for our continent. It also represented continental development because South America is not rich. I think all of South America is proud of Brazil and that is the result that Qatar could have because they will represent the entire Arab world."

This represents something close to home for Trade, himself of Arab origin, who believes that the many immigrants that moved to Brazil generations ago will feel a special connection and want to visit Qatar.

"We (Brazil) have a lot of immigrants from the Arab world and I think these are some links that we can operate on together. My grandfather was from Lebanon and maybe some Brazilians will say 'that's my region let's go there!' We have a lot of people originally from the Arab world, so I think the World Cup will be an opportunity to return," he added.

With knowledge transfer continuing to take place between Brazil and Qatar in the sports field, Trade concluded that Qatar would also boost its tourism sector ahead of the tournament in 2022: "Qatar could use these lessons to showcase that it's a beautiful country, and I think Qatar can use it also to increase its tourist industry – that's one thing that also changed in Brazil."