Doha, December 16 (QNA)

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 was the best World Cup edition ever, adding that it succeeded in uniting the world.

Addressing to a press conference today, Infantino said that the World Cup was successful on all fronts, with no hooliganism, stressing that it was the best edition.

He also said that the World Cup provided many fans with the opportunity to find out about the State of Qatar and the Arab culture. The success of the competition was evident by the more than 3.27 million who attended matches in the stadium.

He said that match between Argentina and Mexico had the highest attendance, with 88,966 people in the stands. Infantino noted that five billion people around the world watch the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

He expressed his delight with the milestone reached by the African content this year after Morocco became the first African team to reach the semi final. He praised Morocco’s national team outstanding performance and their achievement reaching the semi-finals. He congratulated the Moroccan team for their achievement, saying that this is the first time ever an Arab team reaches the semi-finals.

He said that the World Cup revenues increased by $1 billion from the previous edition to a total of $7 billion.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino indicated that that nearly 1.7 million fans attended the FIFA Fan Festival (FFF). 62 matches were played so far without incidents in a very joyful atmosphere and that’s what should be bare in mind. 163 goals were scored so far, which is similar to the number of goals scored in World Cup Russia 2018.

He said that it was first ever time the tournament witnessed a woman refereed a match as women from Costa Rica, France, and Germany took part and they did very well.

On Hayya Cards holders, he said that 2.3 million Hayya Cards were issued, among the top five visiting countries included Saudi Arabia, India, USA, UK, and Mexico. However, FIFA will issue the tournament’s final viewing and audience figures after the final match, he added.

FIFA President appreciated the role played by the 20,000 volunteers during the tournament. He said that FIFA had received 400,000 applications interested to work as volunteer, however, 20,000 were selected from various countries.

He said that two matches are still to go and everyone should remain focused till the end.

Infantino said that FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 would leave it’s strong foot prints on the large number of fans and visitors came from all around the world since it was first ever time that they witnessed the hospitality of Qatari people and the Arabs culture.

He said that the people have witnessed that whatever was propagated against Qatar was not true and experienced very different and enjoyable. It is also unique in Qatar that no incident has happened throughout the tournament which removed all fears about the safety and security.

He said that first ever time 48 national teams will be participating in next 2026 World Cup.