Having money or being on the sponsors’ VIP list is not enough. You have to be a friend of the king, in this case the emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, or the other host of the Cup, Gianni Infantino, president of Fifa.
Such proximity is the visa in the passport to enjoy the most exclusive spaces and their company in the stadiums of the 2022 World Cup.
The acronym VIP, which designates “Very Important Person” among guests at parties and events, won at least two superior categories in the Qatar Cup, the supervips and the ultravips.
“The New York Times” published an extensive report on the phenomenon. “When VIP is not exclusive enough. Welcome to VVIP” is the title of the text that portrays the distinction between the very, very important people from the just important ones.
With the excess of VIPs in search of alcoholic beverages prohibited in the stadiums, but allowed in the hospitality spaces inside and around the arenas, new statuses of exclusivity emerged throughout this World Cup.
The inflation of VIPs, among guests of the organizers and sponsors or among those who pay from US$ 950, per person and per game, to have access to cabins and lounges (read the list below) gave rise to the “VVIP”.
Soon the organizers, however, had to create a third list even more exclusive: the “VVVIP”, which would be “the human equivalent of a seven-star hotel”, as classified by the “New York Times”.
On this climb towards the Everest of luxury in a World Cup that was the target of scandal due to the surge of petrodollars for Qatar to host it, billionaires, the powerful and the real famous enjoy perks worthy of the Qatari royal family.
Upon arrival at the stadiums in luxury branded black cars, the ultravips are greeted with a red carpet and concierge service for quick check-in and private entrance.
Attend the event in an exquisite space, with a six-course menu and toasting with French champagne, selected wines and premium spirits.
In this list are football kings and princes, such as the Brazilians Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Cafu and Kaká, ultra VIPs in the game Brazil and Switzerland.
In the opening match of the United States, Ivanka Trump, daughter of former American president Donald Trump, was seen with her husband, Jared Kushner, in one of these private boxes.
Hospitality tickets, suites, cabins and lounges are negotiated by Match Hospitality, a company accredited to sell spaces at FIFA events.
This World Cup brought in about $800 million in hospitality seating sales, which would be a sports industry record, according to a Match Hospitality spokesperson.
Among the six levels of VIP experience offered in the stadiums and surroundings, the top is the Pearl Lounge (Lounge Pérola), with six-star service, and the Match Private Suites, five-star standard.
A package for a series of games in a private box starts at US$ 202,050 (about R$ 1.1 million), to “see the competition in a superior perspective”, as the Match Hospitality website boasts.
Money, power, connections and fame will dictate where the VIP goes and how to get to the stadiums in Qatar, whether by the organization’s bus or in chauffeured black SUVs.
In this Olympus, there are personalities like Gilberto Gil, guest of Ednaldo Rodrigues, the president of the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), who receives a “small” number of invitations, according to an advisor, to the FIFA lounges when Brazil enters the field .
Gil and his wife, Flora, and businesswoman and socialite Lilibeth Monteiro de Carvalho can be classified, in this case, as super VIPs, enjoying five-star services in Qatar.
Organizer of Expresso 2222, the most popular box at Carnival in Salvador, Flora Gil compares the VIP experience during the World Cup. “At the Cup, you don’t watch the event from your box. You go through the VIP area, but enjoy the party right from your seat in the stadium to see the big star, which is football, the game.”
Flora assesses the hospitality at the Qatar arenas as very well organized and without exaggerated luxuries. “The lounge is a place of support, in passing, for you to drink and eat something during the break, have a beer or wine, since there is no drink outside”, she explains.
“In that sense, it’s a privilege because of this ban on alcohol in stadiums in Qatar.”
When leaving the space to go to the bathroom in the game between Brazil and Serbia, at Lusail Stadium, the Brazilian singer and composer was harassed by Bolsonaristas in the corridor.
“Inside the box, everyone wanted to take a picture with Gil. There was nothing political about it, everyone was in the football vibe”, reports Daniela Filomeno, host of the program “Viagem e Gastronomia” on CNN Brasil and also a guest at the same lounge.
She traveled at the invitation of Qatar Airways, a local airline and one of the sponsors of the World Cup. She lived the supervip experience since the 14-hour flight between São Paulo and Doha on QSuite, “one of the best aviation services in the world”.
He spent 72 hours in Qatar, where he insisted on taking the subway and Uber to visit the National Museum, the work of French architect Jean Nouvel, and enjoy the local haute cuisine.
Daniela also praises the hospitality spaces and the organization of the Cup, but makes a caveat: “It makes no sense to have a partial ban on alcohol consumption. Why can you drink in the cabin and not in the stadium? It is not possible to understand this half rule.”
One step below the VIP scale in Qatar was deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP), invited by a sheikh to one of the lounges at stadium 974, where Brazil beat Switzerland, on Tuesday (28).
The president’s 3rd son celebrated with a group of friends in one of the shared lounges, with free buffet and free alcohol, but far from the sophistication of the Pérola suite or the private cabins.
The next day, however, he got an upgrade. He posted a photo in the top private space at Al Thunana Stadium, next to the emir and Infantino. As an ultravip, he traded a Brazilian T-shirt and sneakers for a blazer and dress shoes.
The experience of the “almost VIPs”, the people invited by sponsors or who paid dearly to have access to the tents installed around the stadiums, can be frustrating.
A few hundred VIP fans, for example, refused to enter the Match Pavillion at Lusail Stadium for the Argentina-Mexico match on Friday (30).
Crowded in the area that gives access to the tents installed within the stadium’s security perimeter, after queuing up at the Hospitality entrance, many gave up in front of the save yourself who can to put on the access wristband.
They went straight to their seats inside the stadium, where they faced the match dry, without snacks and alcoholic beer, which they would only be entitled to in FIFA’s external hospitality space.
VIP even does not face in a row. They are, in general, representatives of large companies and the financial sector, also with private access.
Among the ultra VIPs who gravitate around the emir, the sheiks and the Qatari business elite stand out in the stadium, all men in their traditional white robes occupying the most noble places in the arena.
It’s a contrast to the other fans in their colorful national team shirts. Among the guests on the grandstand was Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, who sat next to the emir in the opening match of the World Cup. The VIP of VIPs on the scale of the Qatar Cup.
As a seasoned news journalist, I bring a wealth of experience to the field. I’ve worked with world-renowned news organizations, honing my skills as a writer and reporter. Currently, I write for the sports section at News Bulletin 247, where I bring a unique perspective to every story.
