Qatar Showcases Pricey Cooling Tech for World Cup Soccer Stadium

Soccer World Cup host Qatar is touting a new cooling system for open-air stadiums as the energy-efficient model for the future—but will it catch on?

The Janoub stadium, one of the 2022 World Cup stadiums and the first open-stadium in the world with air conditioning, in Qatar on Sept. 25, 2019. Photo taken with a fisheye lens. REUTERS/Ibraheem Al Omari

Soccer World Cup host Qatar is touting a new cooling system for open-air stadiums as the energy-efficient model for the future—but will it catch on?

Architects and engineers of Al Janoub, a 40,000-seat venue in Doha for the 2022 Soccer World Cup, said they found a technological solution to beat the unbearable desert heat of Qatar.