The design competition for the flagship stadium of the Qatar 2022 World Cup has been abandoned by the organising committee for the tournament, according to the UK’s Building magazine.

The committee decided that none of the designs that were submitted for 80,000 seat Lusail Stadium, which will host the final match of the tournament, ‘[adequately] reflected Qatari design and culture’ and consequently ‘didn’t hit the right note’.

It is understood that the scheme had attracted bids from several major international architects, but the organisers have not named any of the firms involved.

An award for the design tender had been expected as early as December. The committee has not named any of the firms that submitted designs.

Organisers have yet to finalise how they will re-tender the design role for stadium, the magazine reported.

Doha is planning to spend $4bn on building nine new stadiums and expanding its existing Al-Rayyan, and Al-Gharafa stadiums as well as Khalifa Stadium for the tournament.

In March, MEED reported that contractors were becoming frustrated with the slow pace of contract awards for the stadium projects.

Earlier this month, Qatar awarded the first World Cup stadium construction contract to a joint venture of Belgium’s Six Construct and the local Midmac Contracting Company.

The estimated $300m contract involves upgrading the existing Khalifa Stadium and increasing the seating capacity of the stadium to 60,000, from the current 45,000. The 24-month contract will also include the renovation of the museum at the surrounding Khalifa Sports City.

The consultant is Lebanon’s Dar al-Handasah. The client is Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence.