12 Dec 2022; MEMO: France's Sports Minister, Amelie Oudea-Castera has praised Qatar's "impressive" organisation and management of the World Cup, after her country's national team advanced to the semi-finals on Saturday night, defeating its English counterpart 2-1.
"We do not forget the words of His Highness the Emir (Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani) when he said: "Hello everyone," Oudea-Castera said after her country's qualification for the semi-finals, as reported by the Qatar News Agency on Sunday.
"We have to raise our hats to the State of Qatar for the way it has organised this global event," she added.
French President, Emmanuel Macron, who argued that "we must not politicise sport," said he would travel to Qatar on Wednesday to watch France play Morocco in the semi-final.
In 2018, Macron travelled to Russia to watch his country's semi-final match against Belgium, and then attended the tournament's coronation events after winning the final match against Croatia 4-2.
Qatar hosts the FIFA World Cup from 20 November until December 18.
