All the surprising things that have links to Qatar you may not know about

The 2022 World Cup is quickly coming to an end, with three more games before the new champions are crowned. With the dreams of all England fans being squashed and buried for another four years, many people are waiting to see just who will come out on top in the most famous football competition in the world. The World Cup being held in Qatar has been the subject of a lot of controversy over the past month, with many people boycotting the games due to the human rights issues in Qatar.

While football fans have been boycotting the games due to it being hosted in Qatar, there are a lot of other things in day-to-day life that not a lot of people realise have links to Qatar. Whether that be one’s favourite football team or the most famous airport in the UK, here are all the surprising links to Qatar that you may not know about:

Heathrow airport

In 2017, Qatar agreed to a £650 million investment in Heathrow airport, with it already being a major shareholder. Qatar holds 20 per cent of Heathrow airport, with it also pledging $6 billion of investments in Britain, ahead of Britain’s formal notice of its withdrawal from the EU. The Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Investment Authority said: “Our investment in Heathrow is much more than just an investment in one of the world’s great airports – it’s an investment in Britain’s connections to the world.”

Sainsbury’s

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) owns a 21.8 per cent stake in Sainsbury’s according to Refinitiv. The Qataris built up their stake in the supermarket group during a failed bid attempt in 2007.

via John Cameron on Unsplash

The Shard

The Shard is jointly owned by Sellar Property and the State of Qatar. Qatar owns 95 per cent of the Shard in London and it took almost £2 billion of Qatari state cash to build the Shard.

Five-star hotels

A number of high profile five star hotels are part of Qatar’s portfolio. The Ritz, the Savoy, Claridge’s, the Cannaught, the Berkeley, the Churchill and the InterContinental Park Lane are all either wholly or partly owned by Qatari royals. The Ritz is owned by the current emir’s brother in law. He paid £700 million for the Ritz while the InterContinental was a £400 million purchase.

via Kate Olfans on Unsplash

Football teams

As everyone is aware, the 2022 World Cup is being held in Qatar, span across eight different stadiums. Aside from the World Cup, there are several other footballing links to Qatar. In 2015, it was announced that Qatar had invested £100,000  into Sheffield F.C.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Meet the WAGs of this year’s England World Cup squad who are hoping to bring football home

• These five ‘LGBTQ+ friendly’ brands are also sponsoring the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

• Explained: This is why so many people are boycotting this year’s World Cup in Qatar