“I can’t deny it, it’s obvious that my excitement has diminished. Even more so knowing just now,” complained Spaniard Diego Guillen, 35, when asked about the ban on the sale and consumption of beer in and around the World Cup stadiums .
The decision, announced this Friday (18), was taken by the Delivery and Legacy Committee, which organizes the Worlds. The body is led by Secretary General Hassan Al Thawadi, close to the royal family. The competition starts this Sunday (20).
“I came here to have fun and now I won’t be able to. I always drink beer or liquor when I’m in a stadium”, says the Spanish architect, who landed at Hamad International Airport, in Doha, on Friday afternoon, a few hours after the FIFA’s statement on the change.
Guillen wasn’t the only one who was surprised. Many fans who arrived in the country of the World Cup still did not know about the new determination.
Only the non-alcoholic version of the beer will remain available at all stadiums.
Despite the announcement having been made just two days before the opening of the tournament, Mexican Alan Loredo, 36, already imagined that this could happen. “It’s from the local culture, so we have to respect it,” he says. “But it’s going to be hard not being able to have a refreshing drink during the games, especially with the heat it gets here.”
Wayne Hennessey, 35, goalkeeper for the Wales national team, hopes that the veto will not affect the festive atmosphere at the games.
“I hope not,” he said. “Obviously we all love a good atmosphere. The Wales fans there are backing us as our 12th man, I hope it doesn’t distract them in any way.”
Alcohol consumption is not allowed by Qatar’s official religion, Islam. Being seen drunk on the street is considered a crime. Alcoholic beverages are only allowed in certain specific places, such as hotel bars and restaurants.
Even so, the prices are not at all inviting. Values are similar in different parts of the country. Budweiser is sold for 50 Qatari rials (R$ 73), the same price that would be practiced in the perimeter of the stadiums. The glass with 500 ml of Irish Guinness is sold for 55 Qatari rials (R$ 81.04).
During the last World Cup, in Russia, in 2018, 3.2 million beers were sold.
The sale of alcoholic beverages has become a central discussion in Fifa since Qatar was chosen to host the World Cup, 12 years ago, as Budweiser paid US$ 75 million (R$ 405 million in current values) to be an official sponsor of the event and have their products sold in arenas and “fan fests”.
Moments before the statement from the entity, the official profile of the brand on Twitter published a sentence already with an ironic tone: “Well, this is strange”.
A 38-year-old Brazilian pilot, who has lived in Qatar for seven and a half years and asked not to be identified, however, did not find it “strange”. “I was hoping, unfortunately, that it would be like this. I just thought they would announce it much sooner,” he said.
For the professional, the signs had already been given in 2019, when he accompanied the Club World Cup in the country to see Flamengo’s games. “It was cool, but there was only beer at the fan fest. In the stadiums, there was nothing”, recalls the carioca, who grew up used to drinking in bars in Rio whenever he went to Maracanã.
The pilot also says that it was another piece of news that surprised him months before the World Cup. That he could schedule his vacation for the second week of December, right in the middle of the tournament. According to him, the demand for travel to Qatar has been lower than the airlines expected.
“In 2014, I was working in Brazil and I never stopped traveling. I was going from one place to another during the whole time of the World Cup. So, I didn’t imagine that I could take vacations here and be able to watch the games. But I’m going to watch , yea.”
According to state television network Al Jazeera, 1.2 million fans are expected during the World Cup. It is almost half of the entire population of Qatar, formed by 2.7 million inhabitants.
For now, despite the whole scheme set up across the country, especially in public transport, it is still not possible to notice a significant increase in people circulating on the streets.
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