Qatar does not deserve 2022 World Cup

@ ZachQuin spot on mate!...people keep harping about how bad traffic will be,issues with logistics,infrastructure,but seriously,if you have more money than any other country on the planet,use that money to recruit experts in every field with experience organizing numerous previous editions of the World Cup to organize your event...budget,what was it,12 billion? on infrastructure,i don't see why it all can't be in place come 2022...

What is not going to be so easy & can't be bought is a change in local attitudes & mindsets...

As things stand currently,a significant % of Qataris hate the fact that about 80% of their country's current population are expats & that figure if anything is going to get worse for them in the next decade,i don't blame them,i don't know what it feels like as i'm sure most people who are citizens of countries outside the GCC don't but i wouldn't be too happy if i was in their situation...

They grudgingly accept that they do need all these expats to build & run their country for them but ensure that they point out that they are the boss & that the expats are in some way below them at every given opportunity...

Now,the fans coming in from abroad are not expats who work here but generations of Qataris are growing up with a complete disdain,not to mention a complete lack of respect for foreigners period...unless there is a complete about-turn in attitudes the same issues will come to the fore in 11 year's time...

They're going to be on this "hey you're in MY country now" trip & as things stand,will make sure that all foreign fans feel like they're being done a favour when the truth is the other way around!...those fans are doing this lot a favour by coming to this sand pit @ the peak of the inhospitable inhumane summer!...

So we can debate this for the next 11 years but only time will tell if there will actually be a change in local attitude...

There's nothing wrong with Qatar, it's the people. They are very rude and no respect especially the young ones.

i hope within 10 yrs they improve the situation, most important is the attitude. because it will ruin the image of Qatar.

instead of nagging and judging lets just give qatar support and try to make changes! it is right that Qatar like today can noway host the 2022 worldcup. they need to work on their roads and find a solution for the traffic and most important, they ahve to have a very professional management to control all things around. still 11 years to go. enough time to make changes ... lets just keep highlighting the issues and the problems and hopefully qatar will be so ready for such a big event.

To succeed, you need money ... and right management!

I am very pleased that Qatar won the World Cup bid; purely because of the business it will generate.

From a football perspective; makes no sense at all.

For this event:

They gave away corporate tickets and therefore very low attendance. They sold 80% of the tickets but there was low attendance. It comes down to money and advertising revenues.

Was the bid fair? Probably not as Australia who do love sport lost out.

Can Qatar deliver?

I think they will eventually.

All that has happened is a learning curve for them and let's give Qatar a chance. Perhaps they are learning from the 'supposed' *ock ups'.

I happen to think, not sucking up here by the way; that as a 'young country' they do well at hosting.

that the Arabs always point out proudly that they invented Algebra you would think numbering a few tickets would be a piece of cake!

:P

What they better get resolved is that the ticket that you purchase has a number on it, and that is YOUR seat. Every game we have been to, someone has been in our seat and they refuse to move. The ushers/security won't do anything because they are afraid of getting in trouble or getting a Qatari mad at them. My friend's husband almost got into a fist fight over it.

Then once they do move, they take someone else's seat and it starts all over again with anotherticket holder.

Oh don't be depressed that the U.S lost 'cause Qatar won the bid. I know Qatar is such a tiny city, but it worked real hard to win and it deserves a lot more the bid, so just SHUT UP and deal with Qatar winning!!!

its qatar man we know more than fifa....nothing will be on time...

To be honest, I don't for the life of me see why people in Qatar, particularly Qataris, want to host the world cup. Sure it would be a great honor, but the bidding process this time around has been so marred with corruption that any winner will be tarred with it. Many Qataris are increasingly hostile to foreigners who don't respect local customs, which is exactly what will happen when hundreds of thousands of foreigners pour in for the tournament. Can you imagine European fans respecting the dress and alcohol consumption laws in Qatar? And when they don't, heavy-handed jail sentences for the couple caught snogging in a stadium will only be bad publicity, as will all the traffic, heat stroke, infrastructure problems, etc. etc. How do you think yobbish English fans will respond to some guy in a thobe cutting in front of them at the check out? On top of that, the Western press will take advantage of the situation to do human interest stories, and as we have seen time and again these usually harp on the same old themes of lazy entitlement nationals and human rights abuses. Best to keep the world's gaze away from Qatar if you want to keep it the way it is.

MR T,

the reason I believe that Qatar does not deserve 2022 is simply based on the fact that last night was very much an opportunity for the Qatari authorities to show how ell they can organise a big game. They had amply time to prepare and were well aware that FIFA would be looking at how things went.

While many people had no real trouble entering the stadium there were enough who struggled or were treated badly to underline the lack of organisation. Simply put it was not good enough at this stage of the game and with so much at stake.

A lack of lights at an exit, chaotic traffic management and a disastrous entry policy may be 'small' issues to you but it is the attention to detail that makes or breaks a bid like this. For that reason I have no faith in the ability of the authorities to get a World Cup right, whether they have 6 years 10 years or 20.

As for the guy running on the pitch, that must have been a huge embarressment for all involved not least because the response time was so poor. On such an important occasion it is simply incredible that it was allowed to happen and serves once again to demonstrate a complete lack of organisational ability.

spammer on loose

I didnt watch this game, but watched England vs Brazil with my kids. Everything from entry to exit was smooth, we did not have any problems whatsoever. The only thing which could have been done better was drink and snacks, there were few outlets with lot of rush. We were back home in 15-20 minutes after the match ended (okay i live at a walking distance from Khalifa stadium).

Traffic probably is going to be a prblme, since no one uses public transport in Qatar.

well..speaking about qatari's mentality i think that will take more longer time to change..since they are in their country they can do everything they want even bad or good,..Speaking about trafics qatari r always on d rush running their Land cruiser w/ a high speed..flushing at your back saying get out on my way..that is one of disgusting attitude of them,..im just giving comment for it..i will stay go w/ d flow..:D

No lights on exits? trafick jam after game?!! for these reasons you think Qatar does not deserve the 2022? please think twice. what would you expect after a soccer game?...a helicopter maybe

well that won't happen in 12 years!

Agrees with danger 7 they need to change thier mentality for development.

11 years & 1 1/2 months to go to be precise. haha

alot of the 'hooligans' get banned. the real hardcore ones at least. quite a number of them are blacklisted and are not allowed to attend matches.

A few of them got deported when they arrived at the Cape Town International airport. Fifa puts them in their lil black book lol

This will not happen when the hordes of real footy supporters get here and in a line.

If it did, then there would be a lot of blood around :O(

yeah thats true.. its very 'undercover'. if i could call it that. i never knew how it was till i got here.

Its even different for me. Im a South African of Indian descent. I get treated differently when i say im from South Africa (given preference and respect), before i say that, it is assumed im Indian, or Pakistani. Not very fair..

I am not thinking about big things like the world cup, my only problem is why were people allowed inside without waiting for a second in line and I was pushed around with battons even after standing for an hour in line.

Anyone got any bright ideas about how to get rid of that?

Or should I leave Qatar?

Although it lingered, S.A had eradicated the persecutions (legally) long before the World Cup was awarded to them.

Qatar has 12 years, starting today, to abolish its 'class' system, mistreatment, and poor human rights record.

From what I have read, the main concerns are with the heat and not facilities. Whilst the stadia may be airconditioned, spectators will have to travel to and from the stadia in searing temperatures. In addition, alcohol and heat make for a heady misture.

Whilst logistics/security are a main concern. Qatar will have 11 years to address / resolve them if they are awarded the tournament.

Before south africs won our bid, we had NOTHING compared to what we have now. we built all our stadiums up, BRAND NEW.

We received our confirmation of 2010 in 2004, that left us a mere 6 years. and is dubbed as one of the greatest World Cups to ever take place.

Yes, we too had humble beginnings. Even a stampede at a soccer match once (long ago).

But we came through it all!

Qatar has a million times more money.. and many more years to prepare! i can only imagine how awesome a WC would be here (with the aid of fifa ofcourse).

Qatar does have a long way to go... just as we did..

not only the problem of the alcohol.......don't forget the beautiful girls like to be in bikini and more!!! Yuppieeeee

not only the problem of the alcohol.......don't forget the beautiful girls like to be in bikini and more!!! Yuppieeeee

QATAR IS SMALL COUNTRY...SMALL PPL...SMALL HEART...QATAR IS STILL A KID..HAHAHHAHAHAAHH

Over  local Internet forums , locals resent that millions are squandered over Bid campaigning. Not many discuss last night game, as many locals are abroad in this EID vacation 

According to a friend many spectators are from neighboring GCC countries ( and that includes the streaker who is believed to be Kuwaiti )    

No mention about the logistics issues as reported  by some QLers, which I don't doubt as it's expected to be missed out. 

I think that officials are well aware of those issues, as it continue to occur  whenever there is an event at Khalifa Stadium.

It's not about we deserve to  host the world cup or not, it's about how logical to have the games here in summer. "You can air condition a stadium, but I don't see how you can air-condition an entire country," as FIFA executive  chuck Blazer told the Wall Street Journal few days ago

I didn't watch the game but from the comments above the problems were bad management and infrastructure even though it can be fixed, Qatar will going to have a hard time on the local's mentality. They couldn't even abolished a simple family day then you add up the aqua park issue. They can have all the infrastructure they want but if they don't start now, 11 years is not enough to change the mentality of a whole country and besides Qatar is not the only country who can provide technology and infrastructure which don't even have the cultural thing but true 2022 World Cup will be good for the locals and Qatar.

Has anyone checked the fine print? No-one has said what alcohol will be sold.....could be bottles of those hand-gel sanitiser things :-p

Every business man and entreprenure will make good money,if they don't make money during this period,never in their life can make money. So MONEY MONEY,let WC be awarded

Be the odd one out, you'll always get your way ;-)

I was also very disappointed at the lack of organisation and crowd control - there was no system or arrangement for the queues. People were physically pushing others out the way, and the amount of people pushing in whilst others have been queued up for an hour, and no one did anything about it. Kids were getting stood on, my pregnant friend was getting pushed around, it was a bad experience to go through just before the game when you're mean to be excited. It killed the mood.

@raven. a little blue bird told me when they win the bid, alcohol will be sold( and seen) everywhere. will they sell pork as well? hahah.

You know the old saying... about :"not being able to organise a pi**-up in a br*we*y."?

Last night was the Qatar version.

I had a good experience, being all guys totally painted (including the hair) we were approached by a lotta people to click pics with and then press crews interviewed us... we were even made way for at the gates to enter and the cops were pretty amused with our make-up :-)

It was FUN, until I got back to my car and found so many A-holes had double parked and boxed me in :-(

So whoever here did that and thought it was cool, can KISS my BIG FAT ASS on that one ;-)

Qatar will get the bid because FIFA is scared that if they don't, they will be accused of being Islamaphobic.

There, i said it. And you know it is true.

the issue yesterday was a minor compare to other countries hosting the game which sometimes ending up cancellation of the game due to street fights, civil disturbance, etc.

doesn't you like to be part of fifa world cup? if qatar win the bid and if by chance we're all stay here at least we have a chance to be part of the number 1 sports in the world. and it will be a memorable one.

@ paulnikolai....thats interesting, no alcohol...another missed opportunity for the bid. We are told there will be these great fanzones which will serve alcohol, yet they can't even arrange that for this one-off game. Does anyone seriously believe anything the bid committee says? Yesterday they had the chance to put all their talk and hot air into practice and reality to prove thet are serious, another FAIL Qatar.

@tink: they still have 12 years to prepare? IF they win. :)

@raven. hahah. you wish. there were two domes - brazilian snacks and argentina snacks. I peeked from one of the domes and i didn't know Galaxy chocolate is a brazilian snack. :)

i love the hot air balloon babes, though.

That whilst there are some Qataris who accept and even welcome constructive criticism and feedback from ex-pats on how best to improve their country you got ex-pats telling others the whole "don't like it get out" dialog? lol.. I don't know a ball about football and I certainly love Qatar and find myself more at home here than I did back in SL but that doesn't mean I'm gonna think anyone who criticizers certain things around here should be deported!of course there are some ex-pats who only mourn and whine about everything, and for that matter you got even locals doing the same and I do wonder in their cases who's holding a gun to their heads and forcing them to stay here but still its not my place or authority to tell any of them to get out. I doubt even the Emir himself would feel that way so who are you ex-pats to throw such stuff at others? Seriously...wake up!

Obviously Sahal is ssoooo inlove with Qatar, you are not making any sense on this thread, i hope you know that.

Qatar for 2022? Farfetched.

1. Traffic. Imagine, it's just one game with 2 participants and the audience were mainly from Doha and the Mid East, how much more if they will host the WC.

2. System. Families first. Locals second. Expats, third? We fall in line at 6:30pm. Suffocated. Stepped on. Pushed. Harassed(lol). And finally at 7:30pm we got inside sweating and tired.

3. The one who said, 'if u dont like qatar walk out from here,' go play in traffic.

I think there are a lot of people outside than inside, though. lol

it seems that officials don't learn and don't take criticsm so are doomed to continually making the same mistakes. Last night was the perfect example for Qatar to showcase their bid and how well they are prepared. As always they talk about how well they can do things, when it actually comes to performing they fall WELL short of the mark....BTW what was the fanzone like? Could you get a cold beer there?

i think the game yesterday will be different from the world cup since the stadiums will be bigger compare to aspire, and let's not be judgmental since qatar still have 12 years to fix all the issues. and remember we don't know what might happen tomorrow. for my own opinion, i hope qatar will win the bid since i work in here and if that will happen definitely business will boost here and we don't know, qatar might force to open there city.

I think anyone sharing their experience here is contributing to the country's progress. Criticism helps improve for next time. Brush a problem under the carpet and close your eyes to it; rest assured its going to stay that way for ever.

We are making money here because Qatar 'needs' us. Do you think Qatar can survive without the expats? In tents, maybe.

Do you have a 'support Qatar' car sticker over your eyes?

u go to hell...dont stay in qatar....dont u have shame ..u living in qatar then u making money from here then u ignoring qatar ??????

If this had happened in the 50 degree heat of summer, the hospitals would be full of people who had passed out queuing/walking from dehydration.

Not adequate, I am afraid.

@ sdxt72 your reasons for supporting the bid are admirable, I like loads of others believe however there are far more cons than pros to this bid..

"if u dont like qatar walk out from here."

The typical unqualified solution for everything.

@Samafi what liking Qatar got to do with anything....the subject of liking Qatar has not been mentioned, get a grip man!

Raven1968, I am no football fan (somehow I do not like any of the sport beyond a glance) but I do support the bid and feel that Qatar should get it. My reason is simple, WC will bring the much required development to the country, give a positive outlook about middle east to rest of world and later give poor African countries some sports infrastructure.

Atleast I saw Messi play and score in his trademark way, will always be thankful for that

Well said goldeneyesnoop

Dear Samafi, if people will follow your mentality, then nothing will ever be improved. Authorities need to take notice of these feedbacks and act accordingly. Just because you have a job here which fetches you more money than your home country does not mean you will put a blind eye on the issues, when it is clear that authorities might need exactly these inputs to make a difference.

Thanks, i too know u r rite it was a mess last night , but i just wanted to know is there a way that we as citizens can do sumthing to help the bid . rather than just putting a sticker on our Cars .

But I don't watch football, 'not interested.

And if there are events like this...I stay away from the area because of the traffic...or stay at home.

@ goldeneyesnoop I don't support the bid as a football fan for reasons I've already documented on this topic. I accept Qatar's right to bid and have no problem with that, and have no problem with people supporting the bid. Its just nice to be able to debate this topic without it getting personal and a "us" and "them" mentality. But you did make some good points.

I never said that you cant comment or blindly support Qatar bid , but sincerely tell me have you done anything to support or any effort towards getting to know what are the authorities planning to do and give them some time to do it , give Qatar a chance and we as resident of Qatar should work towards improving things . But yes if you don't wanna put efforts towards it then i cant force you to it .

@ goldeneyesnoop...just because I choose to live and work in Qatar does not mean I should blindly support everything Qatar does and bids for. I speak as a football fan and feel this country is NOT up to hosting a WC on so many issues (won't go over them again as they are well documented). Again if Qatar can't oragnise 1 game it has no hope for 64+ WC games.

Same stadium different experiences ..... it was hectic not unlike any other football match or big event but i didn't find it chaotic.

Sorry about your experience WK.

Guys if you stay in Qatar and work here you should not comment that Qatar Does not deserve the world cup , i agree that there was chaos at the stadium but if you really care abt the place you stay and earn your living you should try and bring to the knowledge of the Authorities the problems you faced and try and suggest ideas , rather than saying Qatar does not deserve the World Cup . Qatar Truly Deserves The 2022 World Cup And I Support it .

Physical force used where none was necessary..

Maybe they just wanted to use the riot police that was brought in..

They first let in the locals out of line, then all the "Families" means anyone accompanied by a female.. Meanwhile they were pushing the single guys away from the entrance not letting them enter even though we were standing in the line for over an hour while the ones accompanied by females could simply walk in and enter.. Only after there were no females left did they allow us to enter, that too as if a huge favour was done to us.

Read more: http://www.qatarliving.com/node/1449938#ixzz15cEkLYvx

if u dont like qatar walk out from here

Sorry to hear that 20 of us went and we have only praise...... great event - great fun :)

Thats the same complains of two years ago dafter the Emir Cup and nothing has been done to rectified it by the way there are 10 years time to arrange for it.

The traffic was badly managed too and not properly park area was arranged.

yes right man i attended the Asian games in 2006 it was a big flop.

As I wasn't at the game I can't comment, but its quite obvious the officials haven't learnt a thing from last years Eng v Bra game which I did attend and had the same problems....the problem with the officals is that they talk the talk but little action follows to rectify anything...a World Cup in Qatar would be chaos. They can't even handle 1 big game, yet alone 64.