On top of our happiness: Qatar is magnificent, I wish the World Cup would be like this too Israel today

The World Cup in Russia was the biggest event I had the privilege of covering in my media career.

I gained experiences there for a lifetime: the initial impression of St. Petersburg and sitting together in a restaurant with Iranian and Moroccan fans, 70,000 Mexicans who shook the Luzhniki Stadium after Choky Losano defeated Manuel Neuer, and also experiences of net soccer in matches between France and Argentina and between Belgium and Brazil.

To my great joy, the broadcasting corporation here chose again to send me to the World Cup (and for that I have countless thanks to them) and here I am here, in Doha, preparing for the opening game in the 2022 World Cup.

The initial experience of Qatar is that everything is bigger, more magnificent and much brighter compared to what I know.

The buildings are huge and architecturally diverse, the lighting here at night, on the buildings and around, is extraordinary, the volume of the singers in the fan areas is very high, the roads are wider, the amount of volunteers and locals who try to help us with everything we need is large and the stadiums are the splendor of creation.

Qatar.

Everything is grander there, photo: AP

The first game we will be in, me and Nadav Jacobi, together with the great producer Liat Sapir (with whom I will spend the next month), will be the opening game between Qatar and Ecuador.

True, these are two of the less flashy teams, but the meeting between them is very intriguing professionally, especially when looking at the Qatari team.

Qatar has actually put sports at the forefront of its agenda and is (also) trying to present itself in a positive light to the nations of the world.

To this end, Qatar established the Aspire Academy, which aims to develop the country's athletes and provide them with an education.

One of the graduates is Mutaz Barshim, born in Sudan and representing Qatar, who dominates the high jump (Olympic gold medalist and world champion).

Football, by virtue of being the most popular sport of all, occupied the largest volume in the academy.

The Qatar national team has actually been in a closed training camp for many months under the guidance of coach Felix Sanchez, who in 2013 received the players of the Qatar youth national team when they arrived from La Masia in Barcelona.

Sanchez.

The climax of the project,

The experiment that Qatar did, to produce players in a kind of closed and advanced system, which meets their every possible need, is very interesting in terms of football and tomorrow it will reach its peak.

A victory over Ecuador - and the round of 16 is definitely a possible option, and for the locals it will be a huge celebration.

Let's focus on football

As the seconds tick by and the opening whistle approaches, my excitement grows.

I will make every effort to convey to you in the best way I can the greatest show in the world, both on air and in writing, here, in "Israel Hayom".

Getting into the atmosphere on the streets of Doha, photo: Reuters

As I wrote before, the World Cup is much more than a football tournament.

It has everything - sports, nationalism, art, a meeting between cultures, and yes, also less pleasant things and question marks about how and why we are here in Qatar.

But as the Dutchman Johan Nis Kens said in 1978: "The world is full of shit, and if we mix politics in sports, we won't be able to play anywhere."

Therefore, from now on we will concentrate on what we came here to do, interpret football, tell about yearbooks, talk about coaches and tactics and above all have fun.

So let's all have a happy World Cup holiday, and most importantly, watch and enjoy.

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