On a hot day, you need a man like Dr Cool. And in Qatar, it can get seriously hot.

When The Straits Times visited the Arab nation in September, about 10 weeks from the World Cup, temperatures soared to 42 deg C. Naturally, the question on many journalists’ minds was: How could anyone play football here?

Dr Cool was on hand at the Al Janoub Stadium – the world’s purpose-built air-conditioned football ground – to deliver the answer.

Saud Abdul-Aziz Abdul-Ghani, to give Dr Cool his actual name, is a professor at Qatar University’s College of Engineering. In 2009, when Qatar was bidding to host the 2022 World Cup in a traditional summer timing, he was the man tasked to find solutions for the heat to make that a possibility.

And while the tournament later was moved to become the first winter World Cup – when temperatures will drop to a more comfortable low-to-mid 20 deg Cs – it is hoped the work he and his team have put in will help the stadiums avoid becoming white elephants once football’s showpiece event leaves the Middle East.

Prof Abdul-Ghani, a Sudan-born mechanical engineer, has been trotted out frequently for the past three years by Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy to explain the cooling technology for stadiums to groups of journalists and visitors. He had lost none of his enthusiasm when The Straits Times swung by.

The bespectacled boffin’s earnest eyes lit up as he rattled off statistics behind the technology, like how each human generates the heat of two laptops and gives off 70g of sweat per hour.

“If a stadium like (the 40,000-capacity) Al Janoub is full, that is like having the heat of 80,000 laptops in the stands,” he said.

He went on to explain how temperatures at seven of the eight World Cup venues – only the dismantleable Stadium 974 does not feature the technology – will be managed by “spot cooling”.

Over 300 small, concealed sensors around the stadium will collect information on temperature, humidity, wind velocity and even the type of clothing worn by fans in a certain sector of the stadium. From these details, officials in a control room in the stadium will decide the level of cooling required for that zone.

“The methodology of control here is not the temperature itself,” said Prof Abdul-Ghani, “but thermal comfort.”

The cooling mechanism itself is powered by a giant solar farm outside Qatar’s capital of Doha. The energy generated will run through a system that chills stored water down to about seven deg C. This is the source of a gentle breeze of cool air which is pushed out through grills under seats in the stands. The air is later drawn back, re-cooled, filtered and pushed out again.

“This circulation of air,” explained Prof Abdul-Ghani, “creates a micro bubble about two metres above your head, for your zone. Then there is also a macro bubble around the stadium.”

As that suggests, this manipulation of temperatures does not just occur in the stands.

Clutching a bottle of water, Prof Abdul-Ghani led journalists to the field and past a row of turrets with football-sized nozzles. These turrets – there are 170 of them around the walls of the perimeter of the pitch – blast out cool air towards the pitch to ensure the field of play will have a temperature of about 20 deg C regardless of how hot it gets outside the stadium.

Gesturing animatedly to demonstrate the movement of the wind, almost like he was practising taiji, he said: “This will volley the air upwards to the touchline, and all the way across the pitch so there will be a layer of cool air the players will play in.”

The zest and energy he displayed even 13 years into his project is fascinating, and he stressed it was because he felt it is a privilege to be able to talk about the fruits of his labour to people from all over the world. “Ah Singapore!” he remarked excitedly when he discovered where this reporter arrived from. “You should be used to this type of weather.”

Prof Abdul-Ghani is excited about the legacy the technology, which has deliberately not been patented, will leave behind after the event.

He believes it will be a boon to other major sports events which typically take place during the summer. Tokyo, for example, hosted the hottest Olympics in history last year – but also in public spaces like malls, as well as to aid in agriculture as the world deals with a food shortage problem.

He also hopes his contributions will be able to help the Middle East “appear... in a different light” to people around the world through the World Cup. No surprise then, that he is counting down the days to the big kick-off.

“The players will have the best experience of their lives,” he promised with a grin.

Thanks to Prof Saud and his team, the world’s football stars can keep their focus on what they do best on the pitch. Keeping cool in the desert will be no sweat at all.