MOSCOW, February 13./TASS/. Russia is sharing its experience with Qatar, the forthcoming host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, on organizing the championship, and this includes security at sports facilities and the use of Russia’s Fan ID know-how, Russian Ambassador in Qatar Nurmakhmad Kholov told TASS on Thursday.

"In September 2019, Qatar hosted the World Athletics Championships, where Russian athletes clinched top spots, and in 2022 Qatar will host the FIFA World Cup," the ambassador said. "This is the first time that a Middle East country will hold such a major sports event. The Russian and Qatari administrations are actively cooperating on how to employ Russia’s experience as the host of the 2018 World Cup, in particular on issues of ensuring security at infrastructure facilities to be used at the 2022 World Cup and the possibility of applying [Russia’s] Fan ID technology at the upcoming championship," Kholov detailed.

Russia provided 11 host cities across the country as the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup and they were Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.

FIFA President Giovanni Infantino said after the world championship that Russia staged "the best World Cup ever". In late December 2018, FIFA announced in its statement that the World Cup in Russia set a new audience record in the history of world football championships since over half of the world’s population watched the matches on TV at home, or beyond, or on digital platforms.

The Fan ID, invented by Russia for the World Cup, is a spectator’s identification card that each person buying a ticket for a match receives. During the 2018 World Cup, it entitled fans to a free ride between the cities hosting matches as well as on municipal public transportation (buses, trolleybuses, trams and the subway), and on commuter trains and aero-express train lines. Foreign nationals holding the Fan ID could enter Russia visa-free for the period of the FIFA World Cup.

Qatar is set to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup between November 21 and December 18 at seven venues across the country, namely in Doha, Lusail, Al-Wakrah, Al-Khor, Al-Rayyan, Umm Salal and Madinat ash Shamal.