Please note that this is my personal opinion. By the time this article/issue got posted and released, the World Cup will have already begun. This world cup version is the first ever to be hosted in an Arabic Muslim country. Qatar was selected in 2010 to host the 2022 world cup competition. Since then, nobody has said anything about it. Sepp Blatter, FIFA president during that time, was the one who signed the agreement with Qatar. A few days ago, Blatter stated, “Picking Qatar as world cup host was a mistake.” Blatter, who was involved in bribery and corruption cases in previous years, is now teaching people about honours and morals. Also, there few people across the world are fighting against Qatar these days because they want it to look like the worst world cup in history. I am wondering why no one has said anything since 2010. Everyone has known that Qatar would host this World Cup for the past 12 years, and all of a sudden, a few months before the event starting, the media and people started to attack Qatar, thinking that Qatar does not have the right to host it. I believe that when Blatter picked Qatar in 2010, he wanted to show and approve to the world that Arab Muslim countries are ignorant and can not handle hosting such a huge event like this. He thought a couple of years before the competition, Qatar would withdraw and will ask FIFA to find another country to host it. Another reason why some people stand against Qatar is that Qatar does not want to let the fans, spectators or players wear or show any LGBTQ+2 symbols. Due to that, many western countries decided to boycott the World Cup there. Another thing that Qatar just accepted is to give visas to Israeli citizens to watch the world cup, with the condition that if the Israeli army attacked any Palestinian city during the event, Qatar would force Israeli citizens to leave Qatar immediately. Those were the two main reasons people stood against Qatar’s world cup. I do not think the problem is in Qatar, but it is in the western countries that think they are the best and that all the countries must follow their laws. Why do they not respect the host country, Qatar? Qatar is an independent country where they have its own law, and if you are going there, you must respect its law, culture, religion, norms, etc., the same as when anyone visits western countries. Qatar law ban LGBTQ+2, doesn’t allow unmarried people to stay together in the same hotel room, and they do not allow two people of the same gender to sleep together, all due to their law derived from their Islamic religion. Because of all these rules and regulations, the western media is waging a fierce campaign against Qatar. While on the other hand, there are a lot of supporters who stand with Qatar. Mohamed Aboutrika, a previous Egyptian player who works for BeIN Sports channels owned by Qatar, stated: “We are not going to change our religion for 28 days,” referring to the duration of the event. I strongly support this statement. Why do people want Qatar to change their law for these 28 days of the competition? It is no sense here at all. Anyone going there must adapt to their regulations and law. Keeping in mind that attending the world cup has never ever been mandatory. It has always been optional. Another fact is that it is a little bit expensive to attend this event, especially for middle- or lower-income people. So, if you are not happy with Qatar hosting the world cup or with their law, there is a straightforward solution: stay home and do not go and save your money for something else. I wish I could go there but can not afford it financially, so that I will watch it on the TV from home. In the last part of the article, I will talk about the incredible work and preparation that Qatar did in the past 12 years to make this dream for them happen. First of all, in case you do not know Qatar or where it is. The area of Qatar is only 11,521 km2, so it is a very small country. Another fact is that Qatar forms a peninsula with a width of approximately 100 km and extends for a distance of 200 km in the Arabian Gulf in the middle east. Qatar has a population of only 2.7 million. But the fact that Qatar is a wealthy country with oil/gas, as they are ranked number 3 in the world has about 12% of the world’s total natural gas. That is a brief about Qatar as a country. Qatar as the world cup, here is a list of the money spent by the host countries of the World Cup competitions since 1990, as per FIFA.com website: Italy 1990 (Total Cost $4 billion), USA World Cup 1994 ($500 million), France World Cup 1998 ($2.33 billion), Korea & Japan World Cup 2002 ($7 Billion), Germany World Cup 2006 ($4.6 billion), South Africa World Cup 2010 ($3.6 billion), Brazil World Cup 2014 ($15 billion), Russia World Cup 2018 ($11.6 billion) while Qatar in their 2022 host, they spent $220 billion. Qatar alone has spent more than all the countries that hosted the World Cup throughout history combined. They developed eight stadiums, and they are Al Bayt Stadium, with a 60,000 spectators’ capacity, Lusail Stadium, 80,000 capacity, Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, Stadium 974, Education City Stadium, Khalifa International Stadium, Al Thumama Stadium and Al Janoub Stadium, with a 40,000 capacity each. www.qatar2022.qa. After looking at these numbers and facts about Qatar and the world cup preparations, I believe there are a lot of people/countries who would like to see Qatar fail. It is natural in humanity that when you see a very successful person/country and can not reach their level, they wish them to fail. I believe no one else in the future will be able to do half of what Qatar is doing right now. Another thing to add is that due to the very hot weather in Qatar, even during the winter, with +30 degrees, Qatari was able to make all the stadiums air-conditioned. Also, the trains were built between the stadiums for easy transportation is incredible. Due to the small size of Qatar, fans can book hotels in Qatar and the surrounding countries, such as United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Saud Arabia, and spectators can visit these countries without a visa. They need to present a Hayya card, which they can obtain online once they buy a match ticket. Another story to mention is that Qatar bought a steamship and redesigned it into five stars hotel, where spectators can enjoy booking their hotel room on the steamship and enjoy the night sea view. Please, if you have time, go and search online about the incredible works that Qatar did, and keep an eye on the TV and social media platforms to watch the games and the special opening and closing ceremony. The opening ceremony will start on Nov 20 at 7 am BC time. While the final game will take place on Dec 18, at 7 am as well.
At the very least, with all those people standing against Qatar, as of today, Nov 13. Today, while I am writing this article, FIFA announced that more than 90% of the matches tickets are sold, and that is seven days before the start of the competition. I wish Qatar nothing but the best and success in this event and looking forward to it.
