Qatar may reduce the number of stadiums for the World Cup 2022 from twelve to eight stadiums due to rising costs. However, a spokesman for the Supreme Committee of Delivery and Legacy (SCDL) told Doha News that no decision will be finalized until after the World Cup 2014 Brazil games.

"As is the case with any FIFA World Cup, once a country is chosen as host, a review of the bid plans is made with the organizers to propose the final host cities and stadia projects, which then need to be approved by the FIFA Executive Committee," Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy told Bloomberg News in an e-mailed statement. "The requirement is a minimum of eight and a maximum of 12 stadia."

Under FIFA guidelines, World Cup hosts can have a minimum of eight stadiums and a maximum of 12.

When Qatar bid for the World Cup in 2010, it proposed readying 12 stadiums for the 2022 games, including renovating three current venues - Al Gharafa, Al Rayyan and Khalifa International - and building nine new ones, Doha News reports. The stadiums were to be located in Al Wakrah, Doha Port, Al Shamal, Al Khor, Umm Slal, Sports City, Lusail, Qatar University and Education City.

Bloomberg News reports that Qatar may now plan to only build eight stadiums for the games, Ghanim Al Kuwari, the organizing committee's senior manager for projects, said at a conference in Doha yesterday.

Bloomberg News cites rising costs as the reason for cutting the number of stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

"Their decision was motivated by cost-cutting following an assessment of the real needs on the ground," John Sfakianakis, chief investment strategist at investment company MASIC in Riyadh,Saudi Arabia, told the publication in an e-mail. "It does always make good sense to do necessary cost-cutting and reviews of capex for such huge projects that are front-loaded."