2022 World Cup: Croatia changes base camp in Qatar

by croatiaweek
April 4, 2022
in Sport

Croatia has changed its base camp option and will now stay at the Hilton Doha Hotel during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Croatia had initially booked the Dusit Hotel but the Croatian Football Federation (HNS) said on Monday that it used the opportunity to change the priority option for the base camp after the right to book the Hilton Doha Hotel was lost by one of the nation’s which failed to qualify last week for the tournament.

Attached to the Hilton Hotel is the Al Ersal 3 training center, identical to the Al Ersal 2 training center where the national team trained during its stay at the friendly tournament in Doha recently. HNS says that superior conditions at the training center, compared to the Al Gharafa center that was tied to the Dusit Hotel, was one of the crucial factors for changing the camp.

Hilton Doha is also one of only five hotels, among the 40 offered in the FIFA catalog, which has its own beach and a pleasant outdoor environment of the hotel.

“Dusit is an excellent hotel that met all our requirements, but when the opportunity arose to book this camp we reacted quickly, made an inspection visit and quickly agreed everything with the coach and the captain who supported the change. The main advantage is the training center which is much closer to the hotel and which has better conditions for players, and that was our priority in the selection,” said the president of HNS Marijan Kustić.

“The federation reacted brilliantly in less than 24 hours, as soon as the chance arose for us to enter the Hilton. Dusit is a great hotel, but here we have an objectively much better training center, which we got to know and which will really provide us with perfect working conditions. In addition, players will be much more comfortable when they can drink coffee and socialize in the fresh air during the day, which is much more difficult in classic city hotels like Dusit. As FIFA has provided only five hotels of this profile, we are very pleased that we have now booked one. This is a great victory of the Croatian delegation and I congratulate the management and the team from the HNS administration on the work done,” said coach Zlatko Dalić.

“Velika pobjeda hrvatske delegacije” – izbornik @DalicZlatko

🏨 HNS je brzom reakcijom promijenio prioritetnu opciju i osigurao Vatrenima superiorne uvjete tijekom boravka na SP-u u Kataru: hotel Hilton Doha i trening centar Al Ersal 3!#Obitelj #WorldCup #Vatreni❤️‍🔥 pic.twitter.com/FyYAEoJmrg
— HNS (@HNS_CFF) April 4, 2022