His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino have led a delegation of senior members of Qatar ruling family, FIFA, Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy and the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LLC on an official tour of the Doha Exhibition Centre (DEC), in Doha, Qatar. The delegation included Personal Representative of H.H. the Amir, H.H. Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, H.E. Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, Managing Director of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), H.E. Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Security Operations Commander, H.E. Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, H.E. Hassan Al Thawadi, Secretary General of the SC, Eng. Yasir Al Jamal, Director General of the SC, FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LLC CEO Nasser Al Khater, FIFA Deputy Secretary General Football Mattias Grafström, FIFA Chief Tournaments & Events Officer, Colin Smith, FIFA Chief Operating Officer - World Cup, Sakis Batsilas, and FIFA Deputy COO World Cup Heimo Schirgi – toured the fully-operational centre, and witnessed personally the operations already underway. The DEC, located close to the Katara Cultural Village, is supporting a wide range of tournament-critical support functions, including the Tournament Office, Main Operations Centre, IT Command Centre, Main Volunteer Centre and the Main Accreditation Centre.

By the time the tournament begins the DEC will have processed and issued uniforms and accreditations to 20,000 volunteers, who will work across 45 functional areas at official and non-official sites such as stadiums, training sites, the airport, fan zones, hotels, and public transportation hubs. The task of bringing together the largest volunteer force in Qatar’s history began in March 2022 with the screening, testing and interview process, evaluating the best candidates from 420,000 applicants from around the world. The selected volunteers represent a spectacularly diverse mix of 160 nationalities, drawn from all walks of life, ranging in age from 18 to 77, but sharing the one goal of delivering the first FIFA World Cup™ in the Middle East and Arab world. In addition to the DEC, the eight state-of-the-art stadiums, the FIFA Fan Fest™ in Al Bidda Park and several FIFA Fan Festivals – there are also a number of other key operational areas, critical to the delivery of the tournament – including the Doha Exhibition and Conference Centre and the Qatar National Convention Centre.