Qatar World Cup 2022: What you should expect
The football World Cup that comes every four years is one of the biggest sporting events in the world. At times, it even overshadows the Olympics, in terms of popularity, live viewership and TV ratings simply because it features the world's most celebrated sport.
The upcoming Qatar World Cup in 2022 will be one that highlights many firsts in this spectacular sporting event. It will be the first time that the football event will be held in the Middle East. This is pretty exciting for many people in the Middle East as the competition will be more accessible to them.
Some of the most ardent football fans are in the Middle East, and this is mainly the reason why several companies in Qatar choose to sponsor some top clubs in Europe - like the French champs, Paris Saint Germain.
So many things will be different with the World Cup being held in Qatar. Here are just some exciting prospects for the event.
A Winter Schedule
The scorching heat, coupled with sand and dust are just some of the issues raised with Qatar hosting the World Cup in summer. Many worry that it would be dangerous to the players as well as the spectators coming from all over the world. With temperatures averaging 38 °Celsius (100 °Fahrenheit) and reaching 47 °Celsius (117 °Fahrenheit) in the summer.
After months of discussions, FIFA decided to schedule the games from November to December, with the final game to be played on the 18th of December. Incidentally, the day of the finals is also Qatar's National Day. Around this time, temperatures are cooler at around 25°Celsius.
While the schedule will resolve the heat issue, this will raise concerns on club-level competition in Europe. A lot of compromise and planning will have to be done to ensure the winter-time schedule succeeds.
Iconic Stadiums
People who have been here will agree that Qatar is quite extravagant when it comes to building designs. With the biggest sporting event coming up, much excitement is centered on the amazing stadium designs.
Even though the weather will be quite pleasant starting November, the stadiums will be equipped with cooling technology powered by solar panels if the need arises. Three existing stadiums will be renovated and at least five more will be built.
The smaller ones will have around 45,000 seats. The finals will be held in Lusail Iconic Stadium, with seating capacity of 86,250. Some of the stadiums will be downsized after the event.
Lusail Iconic Stadium will be the focal point of the 2022 World Cup and will be the venue for the opening ceremony and the final match. The stadium will be surrounded by a moat, and spectators will enter via any of the 6 bridges.
Al-Khor Stadium, which can accommodate more than 45,000 people, is designed like a seashell.
Al-Wakrah Stadium is undergoing major renovation and will expand seating capacity to 45,120. Here is the artist's rendition of the plan.
Al-Shamal Stadium took inspiration from the dhow fishing boats usually found in the Arabian Gulf. This stadium will also have a seating capacity of 45,120.
Alcohol and cultural compromises
What makes the World Cup extra interesting for many fans worldwide is the fun that goes with it. People celebrating with alcohol in the stands and women clad in bikinis were common sights in the past World Cups. Many of what's usual in previous World Cup events are not likely to be seen in the Qatari edition of the games.
So when it's time for Qatar to host, will it still be fun? There will certainly be some toning down as Qatar is an Islamic state with strong cultural heritage. Alcohol will most probably be limited to specific areas and women certainly won't be allowed to be just wearing a bikini.
As can be seen, the country does make compromises to suit both the traditional Qatari Islamic culture and the expats living and working here. The same can be expected in the coming months and years of planning.
The Qatari planning group for the World Cup are looking into possible compromises to satisfy both the local culture and the thousands of fans coming to Qatar.
Are you excited for the 2022 World Cup? We think it will be a dream competition.
Huzzah.. Perrhaps then you can get a job at one of the Stadia
Am excited to stay here in qatar to watch 2022 but i don't like to stay with this existing working company.......
Waiting for the Labor Law to changes.
britexpat: I am enjoying every moment of it!
acchabaccha: Hope you are still here to enjoy the spectacle
Do you want your chicken to be Wings,thigh or breast??
But when the West came (the French), they started covering their breasts. (Some of them)
I don't know what you are talking about. In Tahiti the women don't even cover their breasts. Tahiti is in the West or in the East?
Wunae: Culture and traditions take centuries to build up and get ingrained into any society. They are deep-rooted in any region of the world. The culture and traditions of the Arabs and several eastern countries do not permit women run around in just two "pieces of cloth" to prove their beauty, or to drink or to dance in clubs, or sunbathe on private beaches. It is just not possible for the Eastern culture to assimilate completely into Western culture in a short span of time of some months during which the World Cup will be held. The World Cup -2022 is no doubt a major event in this region, but any cultural impact that it may have especially with relation to clothing and drinking, will be short-lived, and this would soon get carried away with the wind after the tournament is over.
Sorry peeps . Qatar us changing . No going back to the old days
Exactly right Accha. No need to say "women from the west will go to any lengths to display their "stuff" ". There will be women from the west doing it, women from the east doing it, women from africa doing it. I've met enough Qataris who can drink 5x as much as me to know that there is no point stereotyping one ethnic background as 'good' and another as 'drunken' or 'bad'. The 2022 World Cup will finally prove to the world that people from all the countries are all potentially the same. They all like to drink, dance, party and wear bikinis. That's why Qatar wants to host the event - to prove that it is just the same as the rest of the world.
Hypocrisy is a sickness that needs to be stopped. ;)
Wunae: In all countries of the world there is a small lot of people who behave differently from the culture in which they have been brought up and flout the traditions of the region. Such handful number of people do not reflect the culture and traditions, views and habits of the total majority of people who live in that region. As such, a few odd cases here and there always take place everywhere in the world and these should not be used as a yardstick to measure the morality of the local masses living in that area. As you yourself have pointed out some of the cases that took place in the UAE, those people got arrested for their odd behavior, didn't they?
PL: Have you seen them run around showing their assets in "Bikinis?" True, one sees many who are not as modestly dressed as the people from this region or from countries in the east such as Nepal, India, and Sri Lanka. I agree with you that with so many people streaming into Qatar during the World Cup there will be an affect on the local culture, but that will be a temporary phenomenon and will phase away after the World Cup is over. The local age-old traditions are here to stay and will not get carried away with the wind of the World Cup.
@AB : y only west ?? i have seen many models displaying their assets in malls during the weekends like city center. I m sure that they r from middle east countries and not from US continent or EU. we can expect more of such kind in the near future as a promotion in the name of world cup. Cheers :)
aside from Stadiums & hotels. Qatar needs to construct a huge detention jail for the violators of Islamic culture during world cup. :P
GCC women do all the same things as "women from the west"
DUBAI // Two police officers, two Emirati women and a third woman have been jailed for a year for consuming alcohol without a licence and having s-x outside of wedlock after they were arrested in a raid on a yacht party in Dubai Marina last October.
The two men and three women were among 28 people on board the boat. They were all fined Dh2,000 for a charge of beautifying the sin by the Court of Misdemeanours.
One Emirati man, M A, 43, was dressed as a woman and was wearing make-up at the time of arrest.
Dubai CID was tipped-off about police officers organising parties for the purpose of having paid s-x and consuming alcohol with men and women of different nationalities, records stated.
An investigation found that the group had rented a yacht in Dubai Marina on October 10 last year to hold a party.
Police raided the yacht at 6am while it was docking in the marina and arrested 13 women, aged between 20 to 36. Eight of them were Emirati, one Omani, one Yemeni and two Moroccans.
The 15 men who were arrested were aged between 21 and 43, 11 of them were Emiratis, two Iranians and two from the Comoros Islands
Everyone on board the yacht was drunk and taken into custody for criminal laboratory testing.
Police officers seized 101 bottles of alcohol, including vodka, beer and whisky, sheets and blankets, the latter of which were sent to the police forensic lab for examination.
Emirati Corporal B L, 31, testified in prosecution investigations that she arrested and searched the women.
acchabaccha has just disqualified himself from being taken serious. He seems to be full of shyte.
Qatar knew when they bid for the world cup that part of the bid requires that alcohol has to be sold at the football venues. Everyone knew this all along, it's silly to suggest otherwise.
"Women from the West" ?
Not a very nice comment.....
Anyway, Qatar bid for the WC to be held in the summer. So , that's how it should be
Winter weather in Doha is the same as summer weather in Europe. We can all hope for the bikinis and beer while watching the matches!
Umer: Your "Khayal" is not correct. Women from the west will go to any lengths to display their "stuff" during this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in an Arab country even if temperatures here fall to 2 degrees Celsius during the games.
The football world cup 2022 will be start 17 or 18 November till 18 December, i am 100 % sure during this cold weather no one will wear bikini.....hehehe
MM: All three go together to make it enjoyable
One is a sport , one is a drink & the third one is a undergarment .........................................
LMAO :)
Looking forward to the Brazilian Supporters (female) and the booze
A heady mix
'' ....... alcohol in the stands and women clad in bikinis '' ............. has no concern with any games ........................ .............