How have travelling followers found the Qatar Football World Cup tournament?

Posted by World Wide Tickets And Hospitality on December 7th, 2022

How have travelling followers found the Qatar Football World Cup tournament?

After earshot of the Islamic call to prayer, congregations make their way to their local mosque for Fajr prayers. At the same time, Football World Cup visitors are uphill back into their divans having left the FIFA fan festival where games are shown on big screens, then concerts are theatrical when it closes at 2 am. Qatar has a populace of fewer than three million people and more than 2,000 mosques, and a contrast in ethos has been transported to the country for the first major international football world cup tournament to be held in a Muslim state in the Middle East.

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It feels so singular seeing the enthusiasm and smiles of the followers, fan festival director Mead Al Emadi expressed BBC Sport. We have greeted people from all backgrounds and cultures to rejoice in the best of football here. Seeing how much people are liking themselves is the imperceptible legacy of the Football World Cup. As a Qatari woman who loves her football, working on this project for the past 10 years, then bringing it, is something that has been outside my wildest dreams.

Qatar is a traditional country nonetheless Sharia law is firmly rooted in its composition homosexuality is unlawful, and the ingesting of alcohol is prohibited in public. Surrounded by visitors from around the world, Qataris have stuck to their civilizations and beliefs men, women, and children are seen at games in their thobes and abayas, but with face paint and carrying scarves and flags. Every stadium has chosen prayer rooms, counting the media centers, which are often packed when the time is imminent for the next of the five daily prayers, and the Khalifa International Stadium has a purpose-built mosque within its border.

Throughout England's first exercise session in Doha, the Maghrib Adhan could be heard; at one Brazil game at Stadium 974, the imam was seen tiring a Neymar shirt; and throughout the last group game at Al Janoub, a group used an Uruguay flag as a prayer mat. The prayer facilities here make it very easy for us, whether it's at the fan festival, the souq, or the stadium. It has been lovely to see tourists from all over the world present the mosques and have genuine attention to Islam and Arab culture.

"If the Football World Cup hadn't been held here, we perhaps wouldn't have come to Qatar, speaks Faizal, who has toured from Yorkshire with his father and brother”.

Halal food is a must for us and would most likely be a fight in other countries, so having admission to halal food anywhere we are is such a huge advantage to us. Three of the stadiums have also been armed with sensory rooms, giving followers access to supplies and the chance to knowledge the game away from large troops and loud music.

Stadium entree has largely been smooth

Qatar has consumed billions on substructure for the tournament, counting the stadiums, multi-lane motorways, and a brand-new metro system. Organizers have reliably demanded three migrant workers died on stadium sites, with 37 further mortalities of stadium workers off-site due to non-work reasons, and disputed a report alleging as many as 6,500 migrant workers have died. Late last month, Football World Cup chief Hassan Al Thawadi told Talk TV a projected 400-500 migrant workers died as an outcome of work linked to the Football World Cup.

However, Qatari bureaucrats quickly obligatory to clarify that figure, proverb it was an estimation for mortalities across all industry sectors, not just substructure sites linked to the tournament. With the most distant of the stadiums just 40 miles from the center of Doha, there were queries before the Football World Cup about how the substructure would cope.

After an initial issue with the FIFA ticketing app on the day, two causing issues for hundreds of fans going to the England and Wales games stadium entree has largely gone well. With some of the stadiums a walk of 20 minutes or so from a metro station, hundreds of staff have been on hand to point people to the venues, then shout metro, this way while pointing with giant foam fingers after the games.

England fan Ben lives in Doha and joined the first game at Al Bayt the stadium furthest outside the city. The logistics around the stadium were very smooth, he supposed. There were loads of buses getting us to the crushed from the metro and loads of buses to get us back. Getting into the ground was smooth, too. The queue was long but it moved gradually and we were inside in about 20 minutes. But no food or water was obtainable in the forecourt near us, which was a bit of a farce.

Holly, an England fan who toured for the group stage, supposed: "What has surprised me is the ease to get to the stadiums and around the city. The metro has been vivid and you barely have to wait."

Another England supporter supposed followers could get to most stadiums quite effortlessly, but the ones further away were quite problematic to navigate. The longer-term legacy of the tournament will be felt once foreign followers have returned home, though, and a Brazilian man who has lived in Qatar for eight years told us the building of the metro system will have a specific influence.

We feel much safer here

Qatar has a low crime rate, so being pickpocketed or attacked in the street is improbable. But security has been heavily jolted up for the tournament, with plenty of police officers touring the metro and stadiums. Japan supporter Take said he touched much safer here than in Brazil eight years ago. You had to check your bags ubiquitously you went, he supposed as he reproduced on his knowledge in 2014. Here, nothing.

England fan Mike supposed: "This is a Football World Cup like no other it is so different, but it has been vivid. I went to the fan centenary and there were so many fans around liking the occasion”.

You don't have the drinking, and there hasn't been any worry. It all feels so safe. Another England fan, Holly, added: There were anxieties about coming, nonetheless I have enjoyed it. It is a very different air to what we are used to at football in England. There being no drink and no large groups of admirers have made it a bit of a carnival atmosphere. I haven't seen lots of European admirers about it, nonetheless, the South Americans have more than made up for that. Worldwide Tickets and Hospitality offers Football World Cup tickets for the Qatar Football World Cup at the best prices. Football fanatics and buy Football WorldCup Tickets at exclusively discounted prices.

Atmosphere as good as ever or unsatisfactory?

In the build-up to the tournament Football World Cup, it was unclear how many followers would travel to Qatar and what the atmosphere was going to be like at the games. It is estimated more than one million followers have made the journey, and very few games have looked significantly undersubscribed. Indeed, FIFA supposed presence for the group stage had been an average of 96% of stadium volume. The majority of sports have been full of the colours, passion, and noise you would imagine at any major tournament, though there have been others that have encouraged people to post on social media that they have felt flat or fake.

The most obvious difference, when likened to previous tournaments, has been a discount in the number of European followers. While the likes of Brazil and Argentina look to be signified everywhere you go, it is unusual to see a supporter wearing a European football shirt away from the stadiums. A Germany fan we met before their draw with South Korea supposed the atmosphere at European games had been unsatisfactory and there was a huge contrast to the 2006 tournament in his fatherland, where fan parks had 100,000 in every day.

"We have loved it, she supposed. I am expressed there are about 30,000 Brazil followers who have come from South America, and 38,000 from Argentina. This is normal”.

Many supporters have been enthralled by the atmosphere in the stadiums, though, with Brazil's followers Dulce who has lived in Doha for five years motto it was as good as ever. Just listen to the noise. You could be wherever in the world and this noise is as loud and as good. I am happy about what will happen later in the Football World Cup.

Leaving behind LGBTQ+ followers

Though we have been speaking to followers who have chosen to travel to Qatar, there are, of course, many followers who have stayed away, with the choice to stage the Football World Cup in a country where homosexuality is illegal heavily panned. Organizers have always upheld all visitors would be welcome irrespective of race, religion, gender, or sexuality, but they also supposed they predictable their laws and culture to be appreciated, and many LGBTQ+ followers supposed they had not established the pledges over the care they needed.

Days before the Football World Cup kicked off in Qatar, a fan group supposed football is leaving behind its LGBT supporters. A gay fan wrote in a diary for BBC News that, although he has never felt worried about his care in Qatar, locals don't consider gay admirers as part of the equation. A transgender Qatari woman also told BBC News: I am very scared, but I just want people to know that we do exist.

Shaimaa Khalil wrote from Doha: "It does feel like there are two parallel universes when it comes to the controversies around this Football World Cup”.

For the advocates, the protesters, the European teams, and particularly the seven heads who had envisioned wearing the One Love armband, this is a LGBT and human rights issue they want to continue vocal about. For hosts Qatar, and those audiences who've come here or who are viewing around the Arab world which has a vast Muslim majority this is about religion, culture, the standards of the region, and mostly about admiration which they don't feel they're receiving.

Coffee is our beer

Alcohol cannot be spent in public in Qatar, while normally, it is only available to acquire at convinced hotels or if you have a license. Just two days earlier the start of the tournament, FIFA altered its policy and obvious that alcohol would not be sold at the eight stadiums. The tournament has been mainly trouble-free, apart from an incident that seemed to show a fight between Argentina and Mexico groups.

In Msheireb the downtown area of Doha where there are numerous restaurants with al fresco dining - we spoke to a fan with a Scotland shirt on and his two friends relishing a soft drink. Asked how he has felt without alcohol easily nearby, he supposed: It hasn't been a problem at all. It's made us feel a bit better. An Ecuadorian fan, who now lives in Saudi Arabia, supposed they drink alcohol in his home country and it is a big way of life. He has known it had been very hard for a few weeks after he was enthused to adjust to not drinking alcohol and having parties, then he is used to how it is in Qatar and now has another.

“Here, coffee is like our beer, he supposed. People are lining up for ages for coffee."

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