Qatar's 2022 World Cup… Millions of years in the making!

Qatar’s World Cup dream may have taken wings only just six years go, but at least one of its stadiums will be built upon a bed of rock that was formed tens of millions of years ago.

Rare rock samples were unearthed yesterday during construction of the Qatar Foundation (QF) stadium in Doha.

When engineers excavated 1.37m cubic metres of rock (the equivalent of about 550 Olympic-sized swimming pools), geotechnical samples of ‘Dukhan rock’ dating back about 20-30 million years were unearthed.

“As we dug down deeper, we came across interesting and distinct colour bandings on the rock formations. It was an interesting find, and we were intrigued to find out how old these rocks were,” said Eid Al Qahtani, Project Manager, Competition Venues, Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy.

The rocks originated under water, forming a layer known as the middle-Eocene epoch.

“This is an extraordinary find for a stadium construction site, as usually this type of rock is found in deeper tunnelling works, conducted by the likes of Qatar Rail,” said Al Qahtani.

Excavation at the stadium was completed by 32 excavators, which reached 17M deep, allowing for the pitch to be built at around five to six metres underground.

The stadium and surrounding sports facilities, including an indoor arena, tennis courts and an indoor swimming pool, will be used by the student community at Education City after completion in 2019, allowing sport to be played all year round in comfortable conditions.