Qatar having won the bid to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022 against favourites England, i started wondering about the many obstacles that might take place:
– Can Qatar organize the world cup during the summer with its scorching temperatures? Frank Beckenbauer suggested it be held in January or February.
– Will there be alcohol in pubs and restaurants?
– Will the Qatari officials allow “inappropriate” clothes in the stadiums? on the streets? or on the beaches?
I have no doubt the Qatari will pull a great world cup in terms of stadiums and facilities, but i don’t see how they will be able to manage the World Cup fans.
I remember two years ago when women where playing volleyball in Bikini during the Asian games, Alcohol in Qatar is fairly accessible and the Qatari are fairly open minded and educated…That was few years ago…forward to 12 years from now and you will have Alcohol all over the Arab peninsula not only Qatar… As long as the World cup does not fall during the month of Ramadan they will do Amazing!
Okay are you absolutely IGNORANT or what?! Have you read about the winning bid before posting about it? The biggest reason why they won the bid is because they are in the process of building several air-conditioned stadiums across the city, making heat not a problem.
I’m sorry but that’s the main reason for Qatar to win, if you don’t know that, then maybe you shouldn’t post about it.
Oh yea, and also alcohol? really? do you know the country’s rules about alcohol before saying it’s going to be a problem? If you’re a foreigner entering Qatar you’re allowed to drink in restaurants and pubs. Even Qatar citizens are allowed to drink in hotels! Genius.
carl…genius…
“normal” people like to drink beer “IN THE STAD” not wait till they r at the hotel to grab their drink…and women express their love for their team in their own way.
hence it’s not totally convenient…
and no need for name calling
It the fame and money that comes along with hosting the event, don’t be surprised rules would be thrown out of the window just to ensure a spectacular event.
I was hesitant between deleting Carl’s comments or answering him in a polite and respectful manner, things that he apparently know nothing about.
Are the players the only ones that will be feeling the heat? What about the fans and the technicians and everyone else around? Are you going to build air-conditioned streets for the fans? And do you expect the players to stay all the time between the hotels and the stadiums? World cup during the summer is gonna be hell for everyone.
As for drinking, 10,000 foreigners drinking is one thing, having hundreds of thousands of fans getting drunk every night will be a tiny problem for the authorities that i am sure.
Oh and on a last note, grow up.
Devin,
You can have things going forward or the other way around. Keep that in mind.
Najib. Yes, only the players are going to feel the heat, just like the rain. When it rains during the game, only the players get showered, not the fans. I have lived in Kuwait for 18 years where temps are way higher in the sunmmer and trust me, it’s not the end of the world. Everything happens indoors and heat is barely a problem considering the wealth. About the drinking, you do have a point, but I’m pretty sure FIFA has thought of this more than me and you in this blog, considering the multi-billion investment of the World Cup…
I have been over all over the gulf states if not all of them…The gulf states are going one way and it is more liberal thanks to M&M (Money and Media). Europe has thrown archaic religions behind it for science and lots of GCC states are becoming more science oriented especially (UAE, Qatar and Oman) once you see the light(Media) you can never walk backward (Money)…No Qatar will not go backward (.5 million citizen mostly sunni and extremely rich) and the world cup will ensure they don’t go backward, I am positive they will push themselves to free themselves from lots of chains…Now can Beiruti Women end up under a Burka in 2022 that is very highly probable case in point Iran!
One more thing, yes outdoor AC is possible and they are quiet efficient nowadays…The mechanical concept is simple (ducts running underneath) and you can air-condition entire cities that way!!!! I have looked at the way the stadias are done, the cooling is very innovative and they will cool all the stadias and the Fan zones areas also, they have also created AC’d fan zones…I am not saying it is going to be easy, But I am confident Qatar Can and Will Deliver!!! If they can make rain in Dubai (and artificial rain is been around for a while) they can do it in Qatar-Not through prayer though ;)..Yes all those things are possible and no they do not require a divine intervention or maybe they do 🙂
Carl,
I have been to Kuwait and i know you can adjust to living indoors but we are talking about a world cup here. There will never be enough places to contain everyone coming, or maybe there will, which is why i was asking those questions.
As for the drinking, trust me FIFA has not thought anything through cause as it seems, the people voting for this bid are either corrupt or misleading some candidates. All stats showed England as prime factor with a perfect score of 100. Qatar was ranked third.
Devin,
I agree with you, but again this is investing way too much money. Do you think they will come out with any sort of profit out of this world cup? or is it just done for the sake of it?
FYI, England’s bid was for the 2018 world cup and not 2022. USA was the favorite for for the 2022.
Phandy,
Correct and the US also got a score higher than Qatar if i am not mistaken.
Profit from the world cup might not be feasible for Qatar after all they are donating Stadia to other countries… The real win is they get to throw a lot of that money they have for a cause and that is a huge plus, it will push local economy and transform Qatar, they will spend that money anyways either for commissioning gold airplanes or diamond encrusted towers!!!
Some people take this Qatar bid way too seriously.
look at it this way if we can bulid islands
im sure A/C streets wont be a problem…even A/Cing the whole country 🙂 everything is possible
Everyone talks about the heat in Qatar and I do believe it to me a major problem. However I think there are bigger issues with the Qatar bid people don’t consider.
1. Qatar has a population of 1.3 million and 75% of which are migrant workers mostly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines and Thailand etc. These countries are not traditional footballing nations, nor can the average migrant worker afford tickets. This leaves a population of 300,000 who would be interested in attending matches. To put this in perspective, South Africa with a population of 46 million had trouble filling stadiums.
2. Qatar has almost ZERO low cost tourist accommodation. Traveling fans usually stay 2-4 weeks and it is very hard to find accommodation in Qatar for less than $100US a night.
3. There is nothing to do in Qatar. Again traveling fans can stay for up to 4 weeks, how are tourists supposed to fill the times when they are not at a game (which is a substantial amount of time)? Remembering the heat will force most indoors.
I think points 2 and 3 will be a major turn-off for traveling fans. Couple this with point 1 (and the heat) and you will have a World Cup with most stadiums empty. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that the World Cup is supposed to be for the FANS and not a technological trade show where we can show-off over-the-top measures such as air-conditioning entire stadiums and streets. The air-conditioned stadiums are not an advantage of having the world cup in Qatar, they just make it less of a disadvantage. We should instead be focusing on the advantages to football (and football fans) that would result from having the World cup in Qatar, can anyone think of one? Can you see the Qatar World Cup as being one where the average football fan would seriously consider attending?
I will agree that the Arabic world deserves to host a World Cup but Qatar is a poor choice. Both Egypt and Turkey are much more suitable, feasible and deserving (from a footballing point of view, considering the Qatar football team is ranked 113) as the first Arabic hosts of the World Cup and FIFA should have waited until one of these countries bid for a future edition.
Qatar does have one advantage, out of the 5 bidding nations, it has the best timezone for the lucrative European television market. The President of the AFC also happens to be a Qatari who is most likely to succeedchallenge Sepp Blatter to the FIFA presidency.