For Qatar, it’s showtime.
As the clock ticks down towards the 2022 World Cup, the tiny oil-rich state is preparing for a dress rehearsal as English Premier League club Liverpool and Brazilian team Flamengo arrive in Doha for FIFA’s World Club Cup.
Shiny new air conditioned stadiums, a specially constructed fan park, a new state-of-the-art metro, and a charm offensive to woo those who still harbor reservations as to Qatar’s suitability to host the sport’s biggest competition in three years’ time, will all be on show.
No small detail has been let to chance. Inside the fan park, there will be music from the “Cavern Beatles” as well as the “Lightning Seeds,” the UK band whose anthem “Football’s Coming Home” has become part of English soccer folklore.
Beer, normally restricted to hotels, will also be on sale as fans gather in rather comfortable temperatures of around 25 degrees Celsius during the daytime.
Amina Al Ali, the chairwoman of the country’s Liverpool supporters club, Qatar Reds, says visitors to the Gulf state can expect a warm welcome.
“Qatar is a very welcoming country and they pride themselves on their hospitality,” she added. “It’s very friendly, people will go out of their way to help there and there are lots of things to do.”
For Qatar, this is a test run as it prepares to handle thousands of fans from across the globe. It’s also an opportunity to show the world that it is ready and able to cope with the demands placed upon it.
It will hope the tournament is more impressive than its hosting of the recent World Athletics Championships which was criticized for failing to attract enough spectators.
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‘Acid test for Qatar’
“It’s a great opportunity for us,” Hassan Al Thawadi, the secretary general of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy — the organization responsible for ensuring Qatar is ready for the World Cup, told The Athletic in a recent interview.
“The clubs that are coming have great fanbases, really passionate, and they’ll be a great test for us. It will be a chance to show who we are. People have a lot of misconceptions.
“We’ve hosted events where most of the fans have been local — England-Brazil, Brazil-Argentina, Spain-Uruguay, PSG-Real Madrid — but a lot of those fans lived here; expats and Qataris. This will be the first time with so many traveling fans and we’re looking forward to that.”
According to a FIFA spokesperson, around 90,000 tickets were made available to the general public for the tournament with 80% of the total inventory having already been allocated.
Residents in Qatar account for 58% of the tickets allocated, followed by fans living in Brazil (10%) and in the UK (8%).
The tournament, which consists of the best