When Qatar bid to host the 2022 World Cup, the plan, despite the summer temperatures being over 40 C was to hold the tournament in June - July as usual, and they promised the most technologically sophisticated stadium to cope with the heat. FIFA then shifted the World Cup to November this year. Nevertheless, the afternoon games are still expected to be played at the temperatures of 25-30 C.

So, how do you air condition a football stadium?

Air conditioning is in fact the last line of defence against the heat, Qatar’s stadium deploy all the passive forms of cooling that any hot weather architecture uses. Firstly, all the stadiums are oriented in the east-west axis to allow for the movement of the sun over Qatar, and to create maximum amount of shade on the pitch and the stand. Second, the colour schemes, the Al Bayt stadium which is in the shape of a tent, it was originally meant to be black in colour but then it was transformed to a white colour to reflect most of the sunlight falling on the stadium and due to the colour black absorbing heat radiations. The white colour will help drop down the stadium’s temperature by 5 C and the surfaces and shapes of the external facades ave been designed to reflect heat.

Next, most of the World Cup stadiums have a retractable roofs, which would help bring down the cost of water and energy usage needed for the air conditioning system.