DOHA - Kuwait and Oman are now being considered as potential co-hosts for Qatar’s 2022 football World Cup as part of FIFA’s continued efforts to expand the competition to include 48 national teams.

 FIFA have been touting the idea of expanding the World Cup for a number of months now in a move that would bring in substantial extra interest and revenue for the event.

 It is thought that were the competition to expand, FIFA could stand to gain over 800 million pounds more than they do in the current 32 team setup.

 FIFA President Gianni Infantino has now been investigating implementing this larger tournament structure as early as the 2022 World Cup, Aljazeera reported this week.

 The expanded tournament would require more venues and greater infrastructure, and thus Kuwait and Oman are likely to now be approached as co-hosts for the event.

 Kuwait and Oman are amongst the only neighbouring nations to have remained neutral in Middle-Eastern political disputes, and thus could foreseeably entertain FIFA’s proposal.

 Qatar is currently being blockaded by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt.

 Qatar’s World Cup has come under intense scrutiny over its human-rights abuses since it won the honour of hosting the event.

 Investigations have revealed that workers employed to create the infrastructure for the competition have been regularly unpaid, exploited, and some have even died as a result of their involvement.

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