5 major challenges that Qatar faces ahead of hosting FIFA World Cup 2022
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Qatar will host the upcoming FIFA World Cup in the winter of 2022, which promises to be a magnificent spectacle. This month-long football carnival, featuring 32 teams, over a million fans, and eight world-class stadiums, is already making headlines around the world.
This competition has it all, from controversies surrounding LGBT rights and the availability of alcohol to business opportunities during FIFA 2022. So, in order to understand the various controversies and opportunities that the World Cup in 2022 will bring for Qatar, let’s look at the issues that are both against and in favour of the host nation in terms of the upcoming event:
1. Availability Of Alcohol
The availability of alcohol is one of the most significant challenges that Qatar faces ahead of the upcoming FIFA event. As an Islamic country, Qatar strictly prohibits the consumption of alcohol in public places or on the streets. Similarly, only a few licenced hotels and restaurants serve alcohol in the country.
As a result, the lingering question is how Qatar will manage the availability of alcohol on such a large scale during FIFA 2022, and will it be made available to fans in the stadiums?
2. Accommodation
Accommodation, like alcohol, is a hot topic ahead of the upcoming FIFA World Cup. The country has an estimated 40,000 hotel rooms and plans to increase that number to 70,000 in time for the World Cup. However, given that the country is expected to receive 1.2-1.5 million visitors, 70,000 hotel rooms may not be enough to accommodate the number of visitors who are expected to visit Qatar.
3. Number Of Flights
Another unanswered question for Qatar ahead of the 2022 World Cup is the state of travel to the country. As previously stated, Qatar is expecting 1.2-1.5 million visitors for the World Cup. This means that the number of visitors to Qatar will be roughly double that of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. As a result, the obvious question is how the country will manage travel for such a large number of visitors?
4. Concerns Over LGBTQ
Same-sex relationships have long been a source of conflict in Qatar, and the country has laws prohibiting them. In fact, there is a state punishment of up to seven years in prison, with the death penalty possible in extreme cases. As a result, the question is how Qatar will deal with the LGBT situation once the World Cup begins in the country?
5. Stadium cooling system
Because of the hot climate in the Middle Eastern country, the World Cup will be held in the winter for the first time. In June and July, the typical months for the tournament, average temperatures in Qatar reach an insane 42 degrees Celsius, prompting the movement of the World Cup to November and December.
But even then temperatures are 24 degrees celsius and so Qatar have had to introduce measures to further cool their stadiums for players and fans. Will they be able to engineer systems that could help them in providing fans a magnificent experience without sweating because of massive heatwaves?
Read More: FIFA to deploy new advanced technology to detect offsides at the 2022 Qatar World Cup
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Sujeeth Shetty
(766 Articles Published)