The UK’s Foster + Partners has been appointed to design the flagship Lusail stadium for football’s Fifa World Cup 2022 in Qatar.

Foster + Partners will work on the 80,000-seat stadium with architect Populous and UK-based engineering consultant Arup.

Qatar’s World Cup organising committee invited architects to submit designs for the stadium last year. The design competition replaced an earlier tender that the committee decided to scrap because the proposals did not adequately reflect Qatari design and culture.

Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy and the Aspire Zone Foundation received bids from contractors on 27 January for work on the Al-Bayt stadium in Al-Khor.

The project is divided into three main construction packages. The largest involves the construction of a 60,000-seat stadium for the football tournament. The others include the construction of a retail precinct and a utilities centre. Completion of the scheme is expected in 2018.

The stadium will be modular and once the World Cup is over, the upper tiers will be removed, leaving 32,000 seats. The design of the stadium and its name come from Bayt al-Shaar, which is a black and white tent traditionally used by the Qatari people.

Qatar is also tendering the Al-Wakrah stadium, which will have the capacity to seat 45,000 people during the tournament. The original plans for the stadium involve the top tiers of the structure being modular and, following the tournament, the capacity of the stadium being reduced to 20,000 people, with 25,000 seats removed. The plan is for these seats to be donated and reconstructed in developing countries.