Citizens and residents are set to celebrate the most memorable Qatar National Day today as the country also marks the culmination of the FIFA World Cup dubbed the most successful edition of the football showpiece.
With many festive activities being organised to celebrate the QND, defending champions France and Argentina will battle for glory at the Lusail Stadium set to be packed with 88,966 spectators with billions of eyes on Qatar to watch the final.
The World Cup that started with a stunning opening ceremony will culminate the same way with a spectacular closing ceremony planned ahead of the kick-off at Qatar’s iconic venue today. The final ceremony will last 15 minutes and reference the world coming together for the 29 days of the tournament through poetry and music.
Named “A Night to Remember”, the ceremony will be wrapped up with a mashup of songs from the official soundtrack that marked memorable moments of the tournament. Performing live to the stadium crowd and global audience, Davido and Aisha will sing ‘(Hayya Hayya) Better Together’, Ozuna and Gims will do ‘Arhbo’, and the full female lineup of ‘Light the Sky’ will be present with Nora Fatehi, Balqees, Rahma Riad and Manal.
The ceremony will be followed by the ultimate showdown with Lionel Messi all set to grab the spotlight. It is Argentina great’s last chance to win the world title – the only major crown eluding his trophy-laden career which includes a record seven-time Ballon d’Or awards.
Today’s final will bring an end to Qatar’s historic journey to host the World Cup – becoming the first country in the Middle East and the Arab world to host the global tournament. The World Cup witnessed unforgettable moments with all of eight Qatar’s state-of-the-art stadiums operating at full capacity.
Hosting an incident-free tournament, which is the most compact version of the World Cup in modern history is incredible. All those involved including players, coaches, officials and fans have been impressed with Qatar’s organisation and hospitality. “The World Cup has been an incredible success on all fronts. The main one being the fans, the behaviour, the joyful atmosphere, the bringing of people together. The fans meeting the Arab world, it has been very important for the future of all of us,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said.
As promised, Qatar delivered a unique version of the World Cup which will leave a lasting legacy. The country’s authorities particularly the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy worked tirelessly for 12 years despite facing many challenges to make this happen. The QND festivities today will give the fitting celebration to mark their great success.
