Lindsey Pulse
FIFA Hopes More World Cup Teams Means A Lot More Money
The 2026 tournament will feature three groups of 16 teams.
LEARN MOREPosted: 2:54 p.m. EST Feb 8, 2017
Qatar is already spending hundreds of millions of dollars a week on World Cup projects.
The Middle Eastern country is shelling out $500 million every week on infrastructure, stadiums and other projects before it hosts the world's biggest soccer tournament in 2022.
That kind of spending in Qatar isn't going to end soon. The country's finance minister said it will likely continue until the games begin and that infrastructure would total around $200 billion upon completion.
Qatar already has 90 percent of its contracts figured out, and the rest will be handed out in the next two years.
"We are giving ourselves a good chance to deliver things on time," the minister said. "We don't want to be in a place where we start painting when people are coming to the country."
That's a lot of money to spend on one event, so what happens to that investment when the World Cup is over? If past host countries are any indication, it may not pan out well.
Brazil's Maracaña stadium got a face-lift before the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics. Now it's in disrepair, and the owners of the stadium owe nearly $1 million in unpaid electric bills.
A handful of other Olympic stadiums around the world have also been abandoned.
Qatar has just over five years to get ready. The next World Cup is set for 2018 in Russia.
