Outside the humid evening temperature had not dipped very far below 40degC. Yet the players of Al Sadd and Al Rayyan ran, chased, bustled and hustled through their Stars League clash as if immune to the dangers of dehydration.
The wingbacks raced forward optimistically in support of every attack, the strikers pursued lost causes relentlessly and the goalkeepers bounced and pounced around their areas as if it were a World Cup tie.
That they could all do so owed everything to the technological breakthrough which, little but rich Qatar hopes, will persuade FIFA to award them host rights – against all the traditional odds – to the World Cup finals in 2022.
Unobtrusive, around the flanking pitch walls of the Al Sadd Stadium, ran a decorative ring of small black spheres. But these were not design features but key features of a system which cools the air temperature for players and fans.
This is the future and, as the busy players of Al Sadd and Al Rayyan demonstrated to their fans and officials – as well as to this writer and more than 100 other members of the international media – it works.
Al Sadd was always an appropriate club to invest in the initial system. This is the so-called “Real Madrid of the Gulf,” the richest club in Qatar and most successful with more than 300 cups glistening, glinting and gleaming on the trophy room shelves inside the stadium.
But the power of tomorrow stands 100 metres away outside the stadium walls. This is a power plant which drives 6,000 tonnes of refrigeration from chilled water through an underground pipeline to the stadium and out through the 150 vents which fringe the pitch and are replicated beneath every seat around the ground to keep the stands as cool as the pitch.
As the teams sheet noted, temperature at pitch level was a mere 19deg - low enough to keep any gloved Nordic midfielder happy.
This is believed to be the first such system in the world and was installed and started up just over a year ago at a cost of around $20m. Already researchers have developed refinements which will ensure, say the Qataris, that by 2022 the system can be carbon-zero.
For Qatar’s World Cup bid team, this is progress with a double legacy benefit which should appeal to FIFA. Not only can they provide cool temperatures for players and fans at matches, at training and in the fan parks but it can be exported to countries – largely in the developing world – confronting similar challenges.
Cool, indeed.
The wingbacks raced forward optimistically in support of every attack, the strikers pursued lost causes relentlessly and the goalkeepers bounced and pounced around their areas as if it were a World Cup tie.
That they could all do so owed everything to the technological breakthrough which, little but rich Qatar hopes, will persuade FIFA to award them host rights – against all the traditional odds – to the World Cup finals in 2022.
Unobtrusive, around the flanking pitch walls of the Al Sadd Stadium, ran a decorative ring of small black spheres. But these were not design features but key features of a system which cools the air temperature for players and fans.
This is the future and, as the busy players of Al Sadd and Al Rayyan demonstrated to their fans and officials – as well as to this writer and more than 100 other members of the international media – it works.
Al Sadd was always an appropriate club to invest in the initial system. This is the so-called “Real Madrid of the Gulf,” the richest club in Qatar and most successful with more than 300 cups glistening, glinting and gleaming on the trophy room shelves inside the stadium.
But the power of tomorrow stands 100 metres away outside the stadium walls. This is a power plant which drives 6,000 tonnes of refrigeration from chilled water through an underground pipeline to the stadium and out through the 150 vents which fringe the pitch and are replicated beneath every seat around the ground to keep the stands as cool as the pitch.
As the teams sheet noted, temperature at pitch level was a mere 19deg - low enough to keep any gloved Nordic midfielder happy.
This is believed to be the first such system in the world and was installed and started up just over a year ago at a cost of around $20m. Already researchers have developed refinements which will ensure, say the Qataris, that by 2022 the system can be carbon-zero.
For Qatar’s World Cup bid team, this is progress with a double legacy benefit which should appeal to FIFA. Not only can they provide cool temperatures for players and fans at matches, at training and in the fan parks but it can be exported to countries – largely in the developing world – confronting similar challenges.
Cool, indeed.
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