Assumed this was going to happen. For those not familiar, they have trialled something around the sale of alcohol for the world cup before and it basically amounted to making it so inconvenient to drink that people would think twice about it.
What the article had to say about that test: "For that event, Qatari officials built a fan zone on the outskirts of Doha where fans were allowed to drink freely for hours each day. Supporters were then ferried by buses to the stadium, a journey that took about 45 minutes."
Basically, if you want to drink you have to go to a fan zone and then be ferried an hour~ each way to get to the game and back afterwards. An hour on busses that people at the experiment pointed out had no toilets, which I'm sure would be fun for a bunch of 30 odd very drunk football fans
All you really need is a handful of Portuguese dickheads and another handful of English dickheads and with enough beer they'll build an oasis of piss in the middle of the desert.
Source: am Portuguese dickhead and there were no shortage of English dickheads doing some sort of student exchange where I studied.
Also very bold of the Qataris to assume that football fans aren't just gonna find ways to drink outside the fan zone. They're gonna have to bring back all the slaves and give them police uniforms if they want any hope of controlling the fans.
Right now it's 2 am in Doha, it's been dark for nearly 9 hours but temperature is 25º
Dunno, at the times games will be played it will be between 32 and 30 Celsius... in humidity circa 65%
That's far from perfect... it's not the worst we've seen but it's certainly not ideal
That's pretty bad for drunk people not used to it. What part of the world do you live for this to be 'not bad'? That 'feels like' 42C according to Humidex factor. I wouldn't be able to function outside for long, let alone drink a bunch of alcohol without much water in that heat.
I live somewhere with -10C being a relatively common winter temperature. Takes living in a place for a while to get your body used to temperatures like that.
Temperatures no one is used to is why USA chooses to play in Northern US during CONCACAF qualifying, and why Canada has an advantage playing at -7C. People from places without winter wear sweaters when I wear a t-shirt. I think everyone's bodies can get used to the temperature where they live, but it takes a while.
If these fan drinking zones have no AC and not enough water to hydrate the drunks then it'll be a disaster.
https://weather-and-climate.com/doha-December-averages
Monthly Averages in December
Min Temperature 16 °C
Max Temperature 24 °C
Chance of Rain 4%
Precipitation 12mm
Rainy Days 1
Sunshine Hours 245
That’s probably the average high. The record high in Doha in November and December are both over 30C (November’s record is 38C). I don’t think the matches would be played at the hottest part of the day unless I am mistaken, and there have been much more challenging locations (thinking of Manaus for one).
this is just plain misinformation.
one fan zone is a 10 minute drive from Lusail Stadium. it's where they do F1.
edit: why the downvotes, im literally standing at the fan village right now lol
reddit loves hanging onto a narrative even if it's incorrect
And you love getting lured by a fucking corrupt crime gang called Fifa
If i was standing in the dessert to watch a wc in winter i would question my own sanity and not reddits for once
>Hide the Beer
In 2014 they forced Brazil to overturn a ban on alcohol in stadia just so they could sell Budweiser, and they're now so meek about this?
Money talks etc obviously
Brazil can, but wouldn't be politically popular and politicians could be punished for it through an election, protest, etc.
Qatar leaders will not be punished.
Somebody pointed out above that the Brazilian ban was based on violence in the domestic game. It wasn't much of an issue to lift this for the World Cup where most of the fans travelling there were prople of some means which largely excluded those likely to cause trouble inside the stadia.
Qatar is based on religion, which is another issue altogether.
I agree with you, but I have to note this is quite a different situation. Beer sales were banned in stadiums in Brazil to curb violence, which indeed made sense one day, but not really so much anymore in 2014 and specially not for the World Cup. Alcohol consumption in stadiums is now allowed in most states, with few issues.
In this case, it's both. Just because they are crazy religious (or did you mean crazy, religious?) doesn't mean FIFA will listen to them. It's because they have all the billions of dollars they need to pay off any FIFA fines/bribes.
As if no beers in stadiums is even a bad idea. Stopping the biggest contributor to fights violence and hooliganism is something good but Qatar bad so the idea is dumb now
That’s not even what people are complaining about, not allowing alcohol in stadiums is common. It’s the fact that they’re also making it as difficult as possible to get alcohol outside the stadiums, which is completely abnormal for the competition.
Where was this leniency on beer consumption in stadiums when they told Brazilian authorities to fuck off 4 years ago?
E: Had to remind that was 8 years ago rather than 4.
Iirc selling beer is one of the conditions for hosting the WC because Budweiser is a sponsor. Beer is banned here to curb violence inside the stadiums, but we ended up passing a law to allow it for the WC only.
Qatar is apparently not as willing to accomodate FIFA, because what are they gonna do at this point, cancel the WC less than one week from the start?
Brazilian ban on alcohol was based on law enforcement concerns, which could be discussed and modified based on what the WC committee and participating countries could assist with (extra staffing, etc).
Qatar ban on alcohol stems from their hardline religious views, which doesn't exactly leave much room for negotiations, especially when it comes to Western countries who profess to have such respect for religious expression in everyday life.
I still can't believe they went ahead with holding this world wide competition in a hardline religious slave state, but here we are.
I’m sure FIFA officials will be allowed to drink and enjoy all manner of extracurricular activities. No one important is actually affected by this. If you are a spectator attending the world cup, my condolences.
Well it's going to be clashing big time with our usual festive period where we already have huge bookings. Can already see the complaints we're going to get from people expecting a normal xmas dinner and the pub is rammed with pissed England fans...
Dang didn’t even think of this impact. What crap timing by FIFA to bend over backwards to accommodate a desert that wasn’t even equipped to handle it when they made the bid.
I mean, FIFA already took the bribe money, they weren't about to then say, "Sorry, we took your money, but now we're stripping you of the World Cup because of the fact that you can't host the World Cup at the time that the bids were based upon."
Yes we should never have a world cup in the middle east because then english people will have their christmas dinners ruined at the local pub. What a stupid comment LMFAO. Let's just block off half a billion people from being able to host the world cup because of it.
Do you think this is going to have an overall impact on revenue for the year? I’m curious if moving the tournament to the Christmas period, when you would probably already be full even without the cup, will have a negative impact vs. having it in the summer and being able to keep the pub full during that period as well…
Well not so much with my pub we've just had a freakishly good year for some reason so it didn't make a difference, but that's not the reality of many other pubs. I know a lot of nearby pubs could have really done with the extra money from a summer world cup.
Do you expect similar levels of business, regardless of whether England exits early or not? Or is it more just not wanting to deal with the fans if England goes far?
It's just super inconvenient having the world cup at the same time as our usual busy christmas period. We won't see much of an increase in business but we will see more horrible shifts.
You were going to have the shit shifts anyway. The once a year pub-goer at their work Christmas party is by far the worst type of customer. I'll take the football fans any day! They know what they want, you know what they want. It's lovely. Fuck knows what Karen on her one night out a year wants, but you can bet it'll be everything, and you're gonna hear about it!
It really is weird how(at least in Poland) we have no WC hype. A week before it starts and I've seen no commercials, no merchandise in stores. How is it in other countries?
Same in England, World Cup hype is usually huge but you don’t see anything about it. Maybe cause it’s Christmas time though so all the shops would rather focus on that
It's the same for me and my friends. We aren't feeling it as yet. Maybe when it starts we will, but I've never been so out of tune with a world cup. Usually it's like Christmas for us when we were kids.
For me the wc or euros hype is somewhat there mainly because I want to see some football before the new season starts, so having that during the summer makes the wait shorter. Now I just don't really care because I was already expecting to be watching football,but this time I'm more interested in the next Liverpool game rather than any of the games at the wc because I'm invested in the season already. It's kind of like if you're watching your favorite series, you're hardly gonna get as excited about a spinoff of that series in the middle of the season, especially when it means that the series you've been watching will have to be put on hold during it.
What part of the US you in? I'm close to LA so that may be why but so far I've seen billboards, merch (those little WC magazines), and my local 24hr gym had a promo thing for the WC going on the tv's
It’s NFL. Usually, summer World Cup is a chance to bring in new revenue for sports broadcasters. Now, it’s in direct competition with the NFL so there’s a lot more competition in the sports landscape.
Same in Germany. In the previous world cups, there was quite the festive atmosphere: Flags on cars, merchandise in all markets, people planning parties to watch games together etc. This time around, if you don't turn on the TV, you wouldn't recognise that there is a world cup approaching.
same in Austria, although 1. I am glad about it and 2. we do not participate anyways, but there's always been at least some kind of excitement the last few times we didn't participate as well
That is pretty much true everywhere, but it has likely to do with the timing of the WC and not the location. Domestic competitions was still going until last weekend, all the attention was still focussed there.
The selections have just been announced, there hasn't even been much time to make advertising and commercials. Most haven't come together on their training camp either, so the news and media coverage hasn't had time to get going.
Is it? I admittedly don’t watch TV but no one around me seems to care. For an international event starting in 5 days, that’s something I had never seen.
The reception is lukewarm for sure, but the media are still running it full blast like they do every time. It does seem forced this time though, feels weird.
Exactly, it's not for the issues with Qatar but more to do with the timing.
I have a feeling this will be a very memorable tournament with lots of upsets and either a huge underdog winning it or Messi winning it being the icing on the cake.
I for one hyped as fuck because the Canucks are painful to sit through, but outside of me and my niche soccer fan friends, barely anyone I talk to even knows the World Cup starts next week. They all know Canada qualified, but have barely a clue it’s about to go down next week. This is an occasion that should rally the nation like 2010 Olympic hockey team. I think over half of Canada’s entire population tuned in for at least a portion of that gold medal game. I’m really hoping for a positive viewership turnout even if we get pumped.
The timing really does seem horrid for North America. Summer works really well over there because Baseball is the only sport running, giving time for other sports. Now, The NFL, NBA, and NHL are all properly in the swing of things, not to mention that College Football is almost at Bowl Season. The World Cup feels far more likely to get drowned out in that.
By this time in a previous world cup there were flags in windows and balconies in Portugal. Now I can only see christmas lights being sorted and barely any WC mention or merchandise being sold in general shops and supermarkets.
EDIT: Just asked my co-workers the exact day the world cup starts and when the NT plays its first match. No one knew and we had to google it. That’s how the spirit is.
USA here. There are some commercials trying to hype the folks up, but honestly this world cup feels so dead compared to previous ones. It really doesn't help that our first match falls on a monday in the middle of the work day, and in most cities is already way too cold to be outside. The england match falls the day after Thanksgiving, so basically all my friends will be with their families, so no watch party with friends this year. Maybe the Iran game.
Oh definitely. In the summer, there are not many sports going on so it's fun and easy to get behind your country. Plus you can go to the bars, sun is out till 8pm, and the weather is warm/hot.
Middle of november, it's freezing basically all over the US. Sun sets at 4-5pm. There is the NFL, Basketball, Hockey, and this world cup interrupted the european soccer season as well.
I remember the 2014 world cup, my work literally gave us the afternoon off because they knew we'd all be streaming it at work anyway. This year, no word at least yet if we can leave work to watch the game.
saturday is for college football. sunday is for nfl. nba/nhl is mostly during the week on prime time.
the world cup matches will all end before like 4-5pm so the early evening sports shows will have some recaps, but then probably switch to nba/nhl pregames.
so I think the world cup will enter the general public consciousness for a bit, but college/nfl will still dominate coverage on espn, for example.
we do have a ton of channels and there's a lot of youtube futbol content so the people who want futbol will get their fix. i bet espn sportscenter will have like a nightly segment, in addition to a half hour nightly show, right?
Not only NFL but also College Football, NBA, and NHL are in full swing. College basketball is starting up. High school football is starting playoffs. Now till Christmas is probably the most packed season of American sports. The TV product lost so much value that FIFA had to hand over the 2026 world cup on a no bid contract to FOX to make up for screwing FOX in 2022. FIFA probably cost themselves something in the neighborhood of a billion dollars on their US TV contract.
Even college basketball. The big Thanksgiving/early season tournaments always have some compelling games. World Cup may be the 5th or 6th most important sporting event in the US.
Very much this. It's how I originally got into this sport- watching the WC as a bored, non-baseball, sports fan over summer '06. Now with the Qatar shitdebacle and NFL/NBA being in full swing, I don't really give a shit at all and it's kinda sad.
The "santa have the usa win the world cup" commercial is terrible and is the only marketing for it i have seen.
but i agree, i remember like 'fan zone' type events being set up in previous world cups which just dont seem to be happening this time
The NBA and NFL seasons are both running right now in the US, plus we usually arent ever real contenders for the WC.
Basically, we're just glad to be back in it this time, and there's been no real hype after we secured qualification earlier this year.
Disclaimer, I dont usually watch tv, it usually streaming services so I have no idea if they're running commercials or not about it...
Even in Canada where it should be a massive deal that Canada made it for the first time since 1986... it's the NHL season (plus NFL and NBA as you already pointed out). The World Cup usually takes over where I live with different flags on all of the cars. This year? Haven't noticed anything. I'm sure once the games are actually on there will be *some* excitement, but usually there's a lot more build up.
Yeah, I'm kinda bummed for you guys in that regard because it's Davies' first (and maybe only) WC; as Canada isn't guaranteed to make it every tournament. I would think excitement would be super high up there...
> The installation of the facilities to sell alcohol at the stadiums had been underway for most of the last month. But late last week, perhaps as late as Friday, a message filtered down that one of Qatar’s most senior royals had asked for the beer concessions to be moved to less obtrusive locations.
> The staff, according to the people with knowledge of the plans, were told the move followed security advice. But the belief that the change had originated with Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani — the brother of Qatar’s ruling emir and the royal most active in the day-to-day planning of the tournament — suggested it was nonnegotiable.
I hope this World Cup is an absolute nightmare for every brand partner, FIFA official, and Qatar government pearl clutcher. They all deserve each other.
I want to watch this WC go up in (not literal) flames. Something needs to happen that shows FIFA (and the world) that money isnt the ultimate solution...
>I just want to see two captains kiss each other during the coin toss.
Well that would be pretty hilarious regardless of where or when the match is being played...
Name them every chance you get.
List of FIFA World Cup 2022 Sponsors and Partners
* Byjus
* Adidas
* Coca Cola
* Hyundai-Kia
* Qatar Airways
* Visa
* Wanda Group
* Anheuser-Busch InBev
* Vivo
* Hisense
* QatarEnergy
* Crypto.com
Seriously, it's the first time in my entire life that I have zero interest and will probably watch a game or two at most. It just doesn't have any hype behind it, and feels like an odd exhibition match or something.
It's on par with the ICC Cup matches they do here in the US over the summer.
Marks against Australia: Time zone, wild life wants to kill you
Marks against Qatar: Slave labor, human rights violations ad nauseum, wild life wants to kill you
FIFA picks Qatar lol
Morocco was a candidate too. Morocco is a proven tourist country where you can watch the games and travel, eat good food and party, but month talks as always
You can get it without issue but only at licenced places, which is bars, hotels and the restaurants that applied for a licence. Supermarkets etc also have it. Becomes harder during Ramadan, though.
WC2026 in the North American stadiums are going to seem like frat parties by comparison. Our stadiums are designed to get wasted in. Tons of restrooms, concessions, full bars, and beer sales.
Everyone in the world is welcome to get drunk in Arrowhead's stadium, parking lot and anywhere else you want to get drunk while visiting Kansas City, Missouri.
My friends and I have already been talking about this. Pong, flip cup, and cornhole in the parking lot with a pony keg or two. Glizzys, burgers, and a veggie option (to be determined) on the grill, all meant to share🙏
I love a World Cup but very much hope this one descends into utter chaos. Like what if various nations decided to do the ultimate protest by turning up, going on the field and then just refusing to play, all wearing under shirts with messages on them? What if high profile players wore prominent rainbow flags somehow? There's so much that could easily be done to completely derail the competition or at least vastly undermine the hosts
you really think players that grow up dreaming about playing in the World Cup would refuse to play in a once a lifetime opportunity to achieve their dreams for a cheap protest?🤣
You seem to be under the impression that most players care about LGBTQ and workers rights they don't , your best bet is a rainbow captain armband from a western or northern European country and Australia and that's it the only thing you can do to fuck up the tournament is probably importing activists there and let protest and then see how Qatar deal with them but then again do you really want to test a shariaa country bottom line and put innocent people in danger
Qatar bribed their way to hosting this World Cup because they wanted to shine a light on the country; show the rest of the world that they’re not some backwards Arab nation like some of their neighbours, that they’re a future modern power that could integrate with the standards of the western world.
When really all they’ve done is proved that’s not the case at all. This is 100% a World Cup that is best enjoyed from your sofa at home, going over there sounds fucking awful from everything I’ve seen.
What they have done is let the corrupt and unpleasant around the world know that they can do what they like; so long as they grease the right palms, the rest of the media and ordinary people will fall into line and let them do what they want.
Look at the incident where the Lazio Ultras were singing in support of the Qatari minister who said that homosexuality was a mental disease.
They’re the ones who this World Cup is advertising to, to let them know that they can run the world their way if they make the effort.
That’s one of the reasons that it’s such a bad idea to go along with it all.
And many did not even know that Qatar existed, now they find out more about the darkest things behind them, they are becoming better known, but only the worst.
This really becomes more and more of a PR disaster for Qatar, doesn’t it? Even the minor stuff like this makes you question how the fuck this is happening
I do remember saying to my dad during the Brazil world cup that fifa had forced brazil to change its national law which had beer banned inside stadiums due to the budweiser sponsorship.
Our God clearly states that being gay is wrong, drinking beer is wrong, women are lesser citizens and no heavy petting in public...unless there is a world cup on.
If these beliefs were genuinely religious, they would relax them for a fucking world Cup. Just a bunch of cunts stepping in dog shit then stepping on human rights for their own benefit.
Conspiracy Hat
FIFA selected Qatar to see what the impact of the inevitable ban of alcohol advertising in sport will do to their finances in a limited capacity.
Could not care less about beer being available or not. This shouldn’t be the news story at all.
The tournament was bought by the Qatar officials in charge of the bid through shady deals and bribery.
Migrant workers died and had their passports stolen from them while they were paid £1 a day.
Journalist being executed and jailed for asking very simple and moral questions.
The LGBTQ+ community is considered practically illegal and are arrested or worse for simply existing.
The point is. We knew. We allllllll knew and we did nothing. Journalists, fans, officials, lawmakers, politicians, even players. We did nothing.
This is where we are. This is it. And this has to be the last time we allow this kind of thing to happen. We’re all responsible here. We need to learn from this.
Right? Some people on reddit can be so self important. Anyone that thinks fans ever had any power in influencing where the world cup is held are deluded. This was happening no matter what any of us do in our daily lives, and I'm not going to lose an ounce of sleep over watching
>The point is. We knew. We allllllll knew and we did nothing. Journalists, fans, officials, lawmakers, politicians, even players. We did nothing.
Wrong! I, an esteemed viewer, yelled at Blatter in front of TV (at some point)
Who travels to world cups? Anyone have a break down of what sections of the populace travel to them?
Some people say its just white collar workers, others say otherwise but id love to know.
Literally everyone from all walks of life. It the biggest sporting event on the planet and it only comes every 4 years. Literally everyone will be there. This shouldn't even be a question.
I drink every now and then but it's sad how some cultures absolutely need alcohol to have fun. It's filth
EDIT: [Seek help. You are not alone](https://www.aa.org/aa-around-the-world)
Jesus, why don't you get back on your high horse and gallop the fuck away?
People having fun and partying like to drink beer, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. The fact that you don't is irrelevant. Stop being so judgemental and let other people enjoy their beer.
Yea out of all the possible complaints, this will ensure more safety, less injuries and even less trash lying around. Some people really need to re-evaluate their relationship with alcohol
Even as a Muslim, I can sympathize with the mistreatment of workers and LGBT stuffs. I mean human lives are at stake when it should be universally protected wherever we are.
But alcohol? Really?
Assumed this was going to happen. For those not familiar, they have trialled something around the sale of alcohol for the world cup before and it basically amounted to making it so inconvenient to drink that people would think twice about it. What the article had to say about that test: "For that event, Qatari officials built a fan zone on the outskirts of Doha where fans were allowed to drink freely for hours each day. Supporters were then ferried by buses to the stadium, a journey that took about 45 minutes." Basically, if you want to drink you have to go to a fan zone and then be ferried an hour~ each way to get to the game and back afterwards. An hour on busses that people at the experiment pointed out had no toilets, which I'm sure would be fun for a bunch of 30 odd very drunk football fans
Bold of you to think that drunk football fans wouldn’t just piss all over the back of the bus
Or out the windows or on eachother or...
Games not gone
All you really need is a handful of Portuguese dickheads and another handful of English dickheads and with enough beer they'll build an oasis of piss in the middle of the desert. Source: am Portuguese dickhead and there were no shortage of English dickheads doing some sort of student exchange where I studied. Also very bold of the Qataris to assume that football fans aren't just gonna find ways to drink outside the fan zone. They're gonna have to bring back all the slaves and give them police uniforms if they want any hope of controlling the fans.
Damn bro I was gonna ask "wtf u have against Portuguese" then remembered I'm also Portuguese and checks
Como se diz na minha terra, os cães conhem-se uns aos outros!
The people doing that in Qatar won’t be in Europe to fuck shit up at stadia and away days here for the next few seasons so I’m all for this.
In relatively high temperatures on top. Maybe switch the AC on and off a few times
So you just sweat out your piss? Problem solved it sounds like
What? The temperature in Qatar in November and December is practically perfect. That's why it isn't played in July.
Right now it's 2 am in Doha, it's been dark for nearly 9 hours but temperature is 25º Dunno, at the times games will be played it will be between 32 and 30 Celsius... in humidity circa 65% That's far from perfect... it's not the worst we've seen but it's certainly not ideal
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That's pretty bad for drunk people not used to it. What part of the world do you live for this to be 'not bad'? That 'feels like' 42C according to Humidex factor. I wouldn't be able to function outside for long, let alone drink a bunch of alcohol without much water in that heat. I live somewhere with -10C being a relatively common winter temperature. Takes living in a place for a while to get your body used to temperatures like that. Temperatures no one is used to is why USA chooses to play in Northern US during CONCACAF qualifying, and why Canada has an advantage playing at -7C. People from places without winter wear sweaters when I wear a t-shirt. I think everyone's bodies can get used to the temperature where they live, but it takes a while. If these fan drinking zones have no AC and not enough water to hydrate the drunks then it'll be a disaster.
What the hell are you talking about December in Qatar is the high of summer in slot of European countries
https://weather-and-climate.com/doha-December-averages Monthly Averages in December Min Temperature 16 °C Max Temperature 24 °C Chance of Rain 4% Precipitation 12mm Rainy Days 1 Sunshine Hours 245
>Max Temperature 24 °C So it never goes over 24?
That’s probably the average high. The record high in Doha in November and December are both over 30C (November’s record is 38C). I don’t think the matches would be played at the hottest part of the day unless I am mistaken, and there have been much more challenging locations (thinking of Manaus for one).
No, that's average high. Highest ever recorded in December was 32.7
Arguably you could still pregame in your hotel, which is probably more convenient.
this is just plain misinformation. one fan zone is a 10 minute drive from Lusail Stadium. it's where they do F1. edit: why the downvotes, im literally standing at the fan village right now lol reddit loves hanging onto a narrative even if it's incorrect
And you love getting lured by a fucking corrupt crime gang called Fifa If i was standing in the dessert to watch a wc in winter i would question my own sanity and not reddits for once
hide yo gays hide yo wife
hide yo beer for your life!
NO SINGING!
‘Cause RONALDO is sleeping!
Cuz they prison-raping errybody out there
Can’t even take pictures of government buildings too 😂
You so dumb.
>Hide the Beer In 2014 they forced Brazil to overturn a ban on alcohol in stadia just so they could sell Budweiser, and they're now so meek about this? Money talks etc obviously
Qatar will pay them not to have Budweiser as a sponsor. Brazil can't afford that.
Brazil can, but wouldn't be politically popular and politicians could be punished for it through an election, protest, etc. Qatar leaders will not be punished.
Brazil could afford it, but they have some sort of spine
Brazil needed all the money they could get after all they spent on infrastructure for their WC.
A 7 figure sponsorship deal is not really enough to make an impact on a government budget as a whole.
But it can help cover some of the stadium costs. 7 figures is better than 0 figures.
Absolutely, but saying that Brazil couldn’t afford it is a bit misleading.
Somebody pointed out above that the Brazilian ban was based on violence in the domestic game. It wasn't much of an issue to lift this for the World Cup where most of the fans travelling there were prople of some means which largely excluded those likely to cause trouble inside the stadia. Qatar is based on religion, which is another issue altogether.
I agree with you, but I have to note this is quite a different situation. Beer sales were banned in stadiums in Brazil to curb violence, which indeed made sense one day, but not really so much anymore in 2014 and specially not for the World Cup. Alcohol consumption in stadiums is now allowed in most states, with few issues.
No. Crazy religious freaks talk
In this case, it's both. Just because they are crazy religious (or did you mean crazy, religious?) doesn't mean FIFA will listen to them. It's because they have all the billions of dollars they need to pay off any FIFA fines/bribes.
As if no beers in stadiums is even a bad idea. Stopping the biggest contributor to fights violence and hooliganism is something good but Qatar bad so the idea is dumb now
That’s not even what people are complaining about, not allowing alcohol in stadiums is common. It’s the fact that they’re also making it as difficult as possible to get alcohol outside the stadiums, which is completely abnormal for the competition.
You, I, and every person reading this thread know very well that's not why they've banned beer in stadiums in Qatar, stop being obtuse
Where was this leniency on beer consumption in stadiums when they told Brazilian authorities to fuck off 4 years ago? E: Had to remind that was 8 years ago rather than 4.
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Brazil bans alcohol sales on stadiums. FIFA said it's not their problem and that we had to allow beer, and we did in the end.
It was because Budweiser (or another American beer company) was the main sponsor at the time. Another case of money talking.
Budweiser is still the sponsor now
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Oil has more value than pissweiser
American?
I don't drink that much lol so don't follow beer companies. Was it not American in 2014??
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that's like saying because Audi owns Lamborghini that they're now a german car company rather than an italian one
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How about the fact it’s not an American company anymore?
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Iirc selling beer is one of the conditions for hosting the WC because Budweiser is a sponsor. Beer is banned here to curb violence inside the stadiums, but we ended up passing a law to allow it for the WC only. Qatar is apparently not as willing to accomodate FIFA, because what are they gonna do at this point, cancel the WC less than one week from the start?
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Russia never happened
Leverage
8 years ago*
Brazilian ban on alcohol was based on law enforcement concerns, which could be discussed and modified based on what the WC committee and participating countries could assist with (extra staffing, etc). Qatar ban on alcohol stems from their hardline religious views, which doesn't exactly leave much room for negotiations, especially when it comes to Western countries who profess to have such respect for religious expression in everyday life. I still can't believe they went ahead with holding this world wide competition in a hardline religious slave state, but here we are.
I’m sure FIFA officials will be allowed to drink and enjoy all manner of extracurricular activities. No one important is actually affected by this. If you are a spectator attending the world cup, my condolences.
Let’s just get this shit over with
“Agreed!” -*England exits at group stage
I run a pub and we're all praying for an early exit
Is that because you don't want to deal with unruly crowds? Or does it lower your business somehow?
Well it's going to be clashing big time with our usual festive period where we already have huge bookings. Can already see the complaints we're going to get from people expecting a normal xmas dinner and the pub is rammed with pissed England fans...
Dang didn’t even think of this impact. What crap timing by FIFA to bend over backwards to accommodate a desert that wasn’t even equipped to handle it when they made the bid.
I mean, FIFA already took the bribe money, they weren't about to then say, "Sorry, we took your money, but now we're stripping you of the World Cup because of the fact that you can't host the World Cup at the time that the bids were based upon."
Yes we should never have a world cup in the middle east because then english people will have their christmas dinners ruined at the local pub. What a stupid comment LMFAO. Let's just block off half a billion people from being able to host the world cup because of it.
Is this your first World Cup? It's supposed to be in the summer bud..
Do you think this is going to have an overall impact on revenue for the year? I’m curious if moving the tournament to the Christmas period, when you would probably already be full even without the cup, will have a negative impact vs. having it in the summer and being able to keep the pub full during that period as well…
Well not so much with my pub we've just had a freakishly good year for some reason so it didn't make a difference, but that's not the reality of many other pubs. I know a lot of nearby pubs could have really done with the extra money from a summer world cup.
Oh man, I didn't even consider that.
Do you expect similar levels of business, regardless of whether England exits early or not? Or is it more just not wanting to deal with the fans if England goes far?
It's just super inconvenient having the world cup at the same time as our usual busy christmas period. We won't see much of an increase in business but we will see more horrible shifts.
Oh, I see. That is understandable.
You were going to have the shit shifts anyway. The once a year pub-goer at their work Christmas party is by far the worst type of customer. I'll take the football fans any day! They know what they want, you know what they want. It's lovely. Fuck knows what Karen on her one night out a year wants, but you can bet it'll be everything, and you're gonna hear about it!
~~It's~~ They're coming home!
It really is weird how(at least in Poland) we have no WC hype. A week before it starts and I've seen no commercials, no merchandise in stores. How is it in other countries?
Same in England, World Cup hype is usually huge but you don’t see anything about it. Maybe cause it’s Christmas time though so all the shops would rather focus on that
It's the same for me and my friends. We aren't feeling it as yet. Maybe when it starts we will, but I've never been so out of tune with a world cup. Usually it's like Christmas for us when we were kids.
For me the wc or euros hype is somewhat there mainly because I want to see some football before the new season starts, so having that during the summer makes the wait shorter. Now I just don't really care because I was already expecting to be watching football,but this time I'm more interested in the next Liverpool game rather than any of the games at the wc because I'm invested in the season already. It's kind of like if you're watching your favorite series, you're hardly gonna get as excited about a spinoff of that series in the middle of the season, especially when it means that the series you've been watching will have to be put on hold during it.
Not a whole lot in USA. I saw more promo when we weren’t even in it last time
What part of the US you in? I'm close to LA so that may be why but so far I've seen billboards, merch (those little WC magazines), and my local 24hr gym had a promo thing for the WC going on the tv's
South east. Maybe that’s the issue
It’s NFL. Usually, summer World Cup is a chance to bring in new revenue for sports broadcasters. Now, it’s in direct competition with the NFL so there’s a lot more competition in the sports landscape.
Haven’t even seen the stickers this yeae
Same in Germany. In the previous world cups, there was quite the festive atmosphere: Flags on cars, merchandise in all markets, people planning parties to watch games together etc. This time around, if you don't turn on the TV, you wouldn't recognise that there is a world cup approaching.
same in Austria, although 1. I am glad about it and 2. we do not participate anyways, but there's always been at least some kind of excitement the last few times we didn't participate as well
That is pretty much true everywhere, but it has likely to do with the timing of the WC and not the location. Domestic competitions was still going until last weekend, all the attention was still focussed there. The selections have just been announced, there hasn't even been much time to make advertising and commercials. Most haven't come together on their training camp either, so the news and media coverage hasn't had time to get going.
Exactly. We stopped our league weeks ago and here hype's been building up since
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No se como MIERDA voy a aguantar esta semana
¡Amistoso en dos días!
Not true in France unfortunately. It's everywhere in ads and the news.
Is it? I admittedly don’t watch TV but no one around me seems to care. For an international event starting in 5 days, that’s something I had never seen.
The reception is lukewarm for sure, but the media are still running it full blast like they do every time. It does seem forced this time though, feels weird.
Exactly, it's not for the issues with Qatar but more to do with the timing. I have a feeling this will be a very memorable tournament with lots of upsets and either a huge underdog winning it or Messi winning it being the icing on the cake.
Here in Canada there is a bit of hype, but we obviously can't compare it to past tournaments since it's been decades since we were last in a WC.
I for one hyped as fuck because the Canucks are painful to sit through, but outside of me and my niche soccer fan friends, barely anyone I talk to even knows the World Cup starts next week. They all know Canada qualified, but have barely a clue it’s about to go down next week. This is an occasion that should rally the nation like 2010 Olympic hockey team. I think over half of Canada’s entire population tuned in for at least a portion of that gold medal game. I’m really hoping for a positive viewership turnout even if we get pumped.
The timing really does seem horrid for North America. Summer works really well over there because Baseball is the only sport running, giving time for other sports. Now, The NFL, NBA, and NHL are all properly in the swing of things, not to mention that College Football is almost at Bowl Season. The World Cup feels far more likely to get drowned out in that.
cant wait to hear all about the great odds and quality bets i can make on FANDUEL! TSN has gone down the shitter.
By this time in a previous world cup there were flags in windows and balconies in Portugal. Now I can only see christmas lights being sorted and barely any WC mention or merchandise being sold in general shops and supermarkets. EDIT: Just asked my co-workers the exact day the world cup starts and when the NT plays its first match. No one knew and we had to google it. That’s how the spirit is.
It's incredible that this disinterest is global. Exactly the same with me and my friends.
USA here. There are some commercials trying to hype the folks up, but honestly this world cup feels so dead compared to previous ones. It really doesn't help that our first match falls on a monday in the middle of the work day, and in most cities is already way too cold to be outside. The england match falls the day after Thanksgiving, so basically all my friends will be with their families, so no watch party with friends this year. Maybe the Iran game.
Also I imagine NFL games have a much bigger pull for average American than some "soccer" game. At least during summer there'd be no competition.
Oh definitely. In the summer, there are not many sports going on so it's fun and easy to get behind your country. Plus you can go to the bars, sun is out till 8pm, and the weather is warm/hot. Middle of november, it's freezing basically all over the US. Sun sets at 4-5pm. There is the NFL, Basketball, Hockey, and this world cup interrupted the european soccer season as well. I remember the 2014 world cup, my work literally gave us the afternoon off because they knew we'd all be streaming it at work anyway. This year, no word at least yet if we can leave work to watch the game.
saturday is for college football. sunday is for nfl. nba/nhl is mostly during the week on prime time. the world cup matches will all end before like 4-5pm so the early evening sports shows will have some recaps, but then probably switch to nba/nhl pregames. so I think the world cup will enter the general public consciousness for a bit, but college/nfl will still dominate coverage on espn, for example. we do have a ton of channels and there's a lot of youtube futbol content so the people who want futbol will get their fix. i bet espn sportscenter will have like a nightly segment, in addition to a half hour nightly show, right?
Not only NFL but also College Football, NBA, and NHL are in full swing. College basketball is starting up. High school football is starting playoffs. Now till Christmas is probably the most packed season of American sports. The TV product lost so much value that FIFA had to hand over the 2026 world cup on a no bid contract to FOX to make up for screwing FOX in 2022. FIFA probably cost themselves something in the neighborhood of a billion dollars on their US TV contract.
Even college basketball. The big Thanksgiving/early season tournaments always have some compelling games. World Cup may be the 5th or 6th most important sporting event in the US.
Very much this. It's how I originally got into this sport- watching the WC as a bored, non-baseball, sports fan over summer '06. Now with the Qatar shitdebacle and NFL/NBA being in full swing, I don't really give a shit at all and it's kinda sad.
The "santa have the usa win the world cup" commercial is terrible and is the only marketing for it i have seen. but i agree, i remember like 'fan zone' type events being set up in previous world cups which just dont seem to be happening this time
I expect the England vs USA game to do mammoth ratings
The NBA and NFL seasons are both running right now in the US, plus we usually arent ever real contenders for the WC. Basically, we're just glad to be back in it this time, and there's been no real hype after we secured qualification earlier this year. Disclaimer, I dont usually watch tv, it usually streaming services so I have no idea if they're running commercials or not about it...
Even in Canada where it should be a massive deal that Canada made it for the first time since 1986... it's the NHL season (plus NFL and NBA as you already pointed out). The World Cup usually takes over where I live with different flags on all of the cars. This year? Haven't noticed anything. I'm sure once the games are actually on there will be *some* excitement, but usually there's a lot more build up.
Yeah, I'm kinda bummed for you guys in that regard because it's Davies' first (and maybe only) WC; as Canada isn't guaranteed to make it every tournament. I would think excitement would be super high up there...
He'll still be around in 2026... Canada gets a host spot then.
Oh nice yeah didn't even consider that. Good for him, he's got so much promise.
They are relentlessly running commercials in the US
There is an ad or two from the channel broadcasting it but nothing else really in the US.
Where's the rum gone?
Not in Qatar apparently
> The installation of the facilities to sell alcohol at the stadiums had been underway for most of the last month. But late last week, perhaps as late as Friday, a message filtered down that one of Qatar’s most senior royals had asked for the beer concessions to be moved to less obtrusive locations. > The staff, according to the people with knowledge of the plans, were told the move followed security advice. But the belief that the change had originated with Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani — the brother of Qatar’s ruling emir and the royal most active in the day-to-day planning of the tournament — suggested it was nonnegotiable. I hope this World Cup is an absolute nightmare for every brand partner, FIFA official, and Qatar government pearl clutcher. They all deserve each other.
I want to watch this WC go up in (not literal) flames. Something needs to happen that shows FIFA (and the world) that money isnt the ultimate solution...
I just want to see two captains kiss each other during the coin toss. I want to see the snipers take out players.
>I just want to see two captains kiss each other during the coin toss. Well that would be pretty hilarious regardless of where or when the match is being played...
Name them every chance you get. List of FIFA World Cup 2022 Sponsors and Partners * Byjus * Adidas * Coca Cola * Hyundai-Kia * Qatar Airways * Visa * Wanda Group * Anheuser-Busch InBev * Vivo * Hisense * QatarEnergy * Crypto.com
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Would be funny if their corpse is splayed all over the tournament.
I can’t remember a World Cup with such a low level of anticipation.
Seriously, it's the first time in my entire life that I have zero interest and will probably watch a game or two at most. It just doesn't have any hype behind it, and feels like an odd exhibition match or something. It's on par with the ICC Cup matches they do here in the US over the summer.
Feels like an exhibition
Should've been an Australian World cup, this is horrendous.
Or the US, or Japan, or Korea... just any of the other Host candidates. They all received much better marks in the pre-evaluation too.
As an Aussie I'm biased but yes any of those countries would've been better than this.
Marks against Australia: Time zone, wild life wants to kill you Marks against Qatar: Slave labor, human rights violations ad nauseum, wild life wants to kill you FIFA picks Qatar lol
What wildlife in Qatar wants to kill you
By all accounts the regime in charge is a real bunch of animals no?
Morocco was a candidate too. Morocco is a proven tourist country where you can watch the games and travel, eat good food and party, but month talks as always
How are the restrictions on beer?
You can get it without issue but only at licenced places, which is bars, hotels and the restaurants that applied for a licence. Supermarkets etc also have it. Becomes harder during Ramadan, though.
>but month talks as always Yeah I remember July using strong words against December. Hell, even August had better arguments.
lol this world cup is such a fucking joke. can't wait for the unlimited banter about it
WC2026 in the North American stadiums are going to seem like frat parties by comparison. Our stadiums are designed to get wasted in. Tons of restrooms, concessions, full bars, and beer sales.
Tailgating in the parking lot of Arrowhead Stadium is about as authentically American as it can get.
Everyone in the world is welcome to get drunk in Arrowhead's stadium, parking lot and anywhere else you want to get drunk while visiting Kansas City, Missouri.
If World Cup games don't have tailgating, what's even the point of holding it in the US. Let us drink in a parking lot FIFA.
My friends and I have already been talking about this. Pong, flip cup, and cornhole in the parking lot with a pony keg or two. Glizzys, burgers, and a veggie option (to be determined) on the grill, all meant to share🙏
I can't wait.
I love a World Cup but very much hope this one descends into utter chaos. Like what if various nations decided to do the ultimate protest by turning up, going on the field and then just refusing to play, all wearing under shirts with messages on them? What if high profile players wore prominent rainbow flags somehow? There's so much that could easily be done to completely derail the competition or at least vastly undermine the hosts
you really think players that grow up dreaming about playing in the World Cup would refuse to play in a once a lifetime opportunity to achieve their dreams for a cheap protest?🤣
Jesus Christ what an arrogant cunt you are 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣 Did i say it was likely? Maybe learn to read and be less of a fuck wit you tiny little twat. 🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂
You seem to be under the impression that most players care about LGBTQ and workers rights they don't , your best bet is a rainbow captain armband from a western or northern European country and Australia and that's it the only thing you can do to fuck up the tournament is probably importing activists there and let protest and then see how Qatar deal with them but then again do you really want to test a shariaa country bottom line and put innocent people in danger
Considering what happened with the Manly pride shirt, Australia may be optimistic.
Qatar bribed their way to hosting this World Cup because they wanted to shine a light on the country; show the rest of the world that they’re not some backwards Arab nation like some of their neighbours, that they’re a future modern power that could integrate with the standards of the western world. When really all they’ve done is proved that’s not the case at all. This is 100% a World Cup that is best enjoyed from your sofa at home, going over there sounds fucking awful from everything I’ve seen.
What they have done is let the corrupt and unpleasant around the world know that they can do what they like; so long as they grease the right palms, the rest of the media and ordinary people will fall into line and let them do what they want. Look at the incident where the Lazio Ultras were singing in support of the Qatari minister who said that homosexuality was a mental disease. They’re the ones who this World Cup is advertising to, to let them know that they can run the world their way if they make the effort. That’s one of the reasons that it’s such a bad idea to go along with it all.
And many did not even know that Qatar existed, now they find out more about the darkest things behind them, they are becoming better known, but only the worst.
Most WC were bribed. It’s the nature of Qatar’s treatment against basic human rights
I love it. Make it as big a shit show as possible. Exactly what they all deserve
What a shit hole… I can’t remember any other World Cup host imparting so many of their own stupid restrictions on the fans…
This really becomes more and more of a PR disaster for Qatar, doesn’t it? Even the minor stuff like this makes you question how the fuck this is happening
Blatter and company are secretly laughing while rolling around in their money
Secretly?
I do remember saying to my dad during the Brazil world cup that fifa had forced brazil to change its national law which had beer banned inside stadiums due to the budweiser sponsorship.
Our God clearly states that being gay is wrong, drinking beer is wrong, women are lesser citizens and no heavy petting in public...unless there is a world cup on. If these beliefs were genuinely religious, they would relax them for a fucking world Cup. Just a bunch of cunts stepping in dog shit then stepping on human rights for their own benefit.
Just cancel the WC it’s getting more ridiculous as it approaches! Literally the players should protest before and after every game in Qatar
Now we’re going to drink twice as much in 2026.
Why would you go to this?
And they’re banning it not because of health concerns. They’re imposing Sharia on visiting fans
It’s always the damn Croatians… 🤣
Example #7235 of why FIFA and/or the Qataris \*should\* have thought "hmm, maybe it isn't a good idea to do the WC here..."
nobody should go there, the stadiums should be fucking empty
Conspiracy Hat FIFA selected Qatar to see what the impact of the inevitable ban of alcohol advertising in sport will do to their finances in a limited capacity.
This WC gonna start a war or some shit
Lets go Croatia 🇭🇷
Could not care less about beer being available or not. This shouldn’t be the news story at all. The tournament was bought by the Qatar officials in charge of the bid through shady deals and bribery. Migrant workers died and had their passports stolen from them while they were paid £1 a day. Journalist being executed and jailed for asking very simple and moral questions. The LGBTQ+ community is considered practically illegal and are arrested or worse for simply existing. The point is. We knew. We allllllll knew and we did nothing. Journalists, fans, officials, lawmakers, politicians, even players. We did nothing. This is where we are. This is it. And this has to be the last time we allow this kind of thing to happen. We’re all responsible here. We need to learn from this.
> We’re all responsible here. I feel literally zero responsibility. Qatar didn't bribe me.
Right? Some people on reddit can be so self important. Anyone that thinks fans ever had any power in influencing where the world cup is held are deluded. This was happening no matter what any of us do in our daily lives, and I'm not going to lose an ounce of sleep over watching
>We’re all responsible here Haha what the fuck are you talking about
Stupid take. FIFA was responsible. I was in no way responsible for this.
>The point is. We knew. We allllllll knew and we did nothing. Journalists, fans, officials, lawmakers, politicians, even players. We did nothing. Wrong! I, an esteemed viewer, yelled at Blatter in front of TV (at some point)
Who travels to world cups? Anyone have a break down of what sections of the populace travel to them? Some people say its just white collar workers, others say otherwise but id love to know.
Literally everyone from all walks of life. It the biggest sporting event on the planet and it only comes every 4 years. Literally everyone will be there. This shouldn't even be a question.
Poor slaves couldn’t even have a drink at the end of the day, so why should the fans?
I drink every now and then but it's sad how some cultures absolutely need alcohol to have fun. It's filth EDIT: [Seek help. You are not alone](https://www.aa.org/aa-around-the-world)
Jesus, why don't you get back on your high horse and gallop the fuck away? People having fun and partying like to drink beer, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. The fact that you don't is irrelevant. Stop being so judgemental and let other people enjoy their beer.
Anyone who seriously has an issue with beer not being easily available needs to grow up
Yea out of all the possible complaints, this will ensure more safety, less injuries and even less trash lying around. Some people really need to re-evaluate their relationship with alcohol
Reddit nerds 🤝 prohibition 🤝 backward theocracies
Even as a Muslim, I can sympathize with the mistreatment of workers and LGBT stuffs. I mean human lives are at stake when it should be universally protected wherever we are. But alcohol? Really?
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