In Last Minute Change, No Alcohol To Be Sold At Qatar World Cup Stadiums

Just two days before the World Cup kicks off in Qatar, soccer’s world governing body FIFA confirmed that no alcohol will be sold at the eight stadiums which will host the tournament’s 64 matches.

“Following discussions between host country authorities and FIFA, a decision has been made to focus the sale of alcoholic beverages on the FIFA Fan Festival, other fan destinations and licensed venues, removing sales points of beer from Qatar’s FIFA World Cup 2022 stadium perimeter,” said the FIFA statement.

In September, Qatar had said it would permit ticketed fans to buy alcoholic beer at World Cup soccer matches starting three hours before kickoff and for one hour after the final whistle, but not during the match.

“There is no impact to the sale of Bud Zero which will remain available at all Qatar’s World Cup stadiums,” added the FIFA statement.

“Host country authorities and FIFA will continue to ensure that the stadiums and surrounding areas provide an enjoyable, respectful and pleasant experience for all fans.”Budweiser was to sell beer within the ticketed perimeter surrounding each of the eight stadiums before and after each game.

Budweiser, which is one of FIFA’s partners, tweeted, “Well, this is awkward,” though the social media post was quickly deleted. The beer brand is owned by the world’s largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev.

“The tournament organisers appreciate AB InBev’s understanding and continuous support to our joint commitment to cater for everyone during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022,” continued the FIFA statement.

Status Of Women In Qatar, Host Of World Cup

The foreign fans descending on Doha for the 2022 World Cup will find a country where women work, hold public office and cruise in their supercars along the city’s palm-lined corniche. They’ve been driving for decades, unlike in Saudi Arabia, where women gained the right just a few years ago.

There are Qatari female ambassadors, judges and ministers, even race jockeys. The emir’s mother, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser al-Missned, is one of the most famous women in the Arab world. In a region where rulers’ wives and mothers keep a low-profile, she behaves like a Western-style first lady — advocating for social causes and grabbing headlines as a style icon.

Yet the emirate has for years sat near the bottom of the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, which tracks gaps between women and men in employment, education, health and politics.

It’s a traditional society that traces its roots to the interior of the Arabian Peninsula, where an ultraconservative form of Islam known as Wahhabism originated. Rights groups say that the Qatari legal system, based on Islamic law or Shariah, hinders women’s advancement.

Here’s a look at the situation of women in the tiny sheikhdom that has undergone a massive social transformation from a generation ago, when most women kept close to home.

RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS

Qatar’s constitution enshrines equality among citizens. But the U.S. State Department and human rights groups say the Qatari legal system discriminates against women when it comes to their freedom of movement and issues of marriage, child custody and inheritance. Under Shariah law, for example, women can inherit property, but daughters receive half as much as sons. Men can easily divorce their wives, while women must apply to courts from a narrow list of acceptable grounds. Men can marry up to four wives without issue, while women must obtain approval from a male guardian to get married at any age. Under a rule rarely enforced, Qatari women under the age of 25 also must secure a male guardian’s permission to leave the country. Husbands and fathers may bar women from traveling. Unmarried Qatari women under 30 cannot check into hotels. Single women who get pregnant face prosecution for extramarital sex. There is no government office dedicated to women’s rights.

POLITICS
Just last year, emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani appointed women to two Cabinet posts, bringing the number of female ministers to three — the highest number in Qatar’s history. Prominent Qatari women hold other high-level positions, too. The female deputy foreign minister gained prestige as the spokeswoman for Qatar’s critical diplomatic efforts amid the U.S. military and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan. Another powerful woman is Sheikh Tamim’s younger sister, the head of the Qatar Museum Authority who has become one of the international art world’s most popular figures. Last year, Sheikh Tamim appointed two women to the country’s advisory Shura Council. But the legislative elections for the 45-member council were a stark testament to Qatari women’s limited role. Female candidates did not win a single seat.

WORKFORCE

Laws guarantee the right to equal pay for Qatari women and men. But women do not always receive it. They also struggle to obtain high-level posts in private companies and the public sector, even though more than half of all college graduates are women. There is no law prohibiting gender discrimination in the workplace. Laws ban women from jobs broadly defined as dangerous or inappropriate. Women also must seek permission from a male guardian to work in the government and special institutions. Despite the obstacles, some women have managed to succeed professionally.

TRADITIONAL ROLES

Traditional roles in Qatar are enshrined in laws that differentiate between women’s and men’s rights and responsibilities. Wives, for instance, are legally in charge of the household and are required to obey their husbands. They can lose financial support if they defy their husband’s wishes. Religious and tribal customs mean that conservative families frown on women mingling with unrelated men, even for business. Although women have made major forays in recent years, the world of politics and finance remains male-dominant. With Islam encouraging female modesty, Qatari women typically wear a headscarf and loose cloak known as the abaya. Bedouin women are more conservative and some cover their faces with the niqab veil.

Dubai To Cash In On A World Cup A Short Flight Away

The FIFA World Cup may be bringing as many as 1.2 million fans to Qatar, but the nearby flashy emirate of Dubai is also looking to cash in on the major sports tournament taking place just a short flight away. Some soccer fan clubs have already said they’ll be commuting to Qatar during the cup on 45-minute flights from Dubai, the skyscraper-studded, beachfront city-state in the United Arab Emirates. Other fans plan to sleep on cruise ships or camp out in the desert amid a feverish rush for rooms in Doha. Dubai’s airlines, bars, restaurants, shopping malls and other attractions now hope to benefit, further boosting their rebounding tourism industry in the crucial fall and winter months after the blows delivered by the coronavirus pandemic. “If you can’t stay in Qatar, Dubai is the place you’d most like to go as a foreign tourist,” said James Swanston, a Middle East and North Africa expert at Capital Economics. “It’s somewhere safe, somewhere more liberal in terms of Western norms. It’s the most attractive destination.”

Now home to the world’s tallest building, cavernous malls — including one with an indoor ski slope — and thriving nightclub scene, Dubai has seen explosive growth fueled by its boom-and-bust real estate market that’s transformed the one-time pearling village over the last 20 years.

Its long-haul carrier Emirates helped make Dubai International Airport the busiest in the world for foreign travel and provides a steady stream of new visitors who stay for layovers or longer. And while still an autocratic sheikhdom like its other Gulf Arab neighbors, Dubai has a relatively more-liberal view on drinking and nightlife.

In the lead-up to the tournament, concerns about hotel room space and high prices for the rooms available have trailed Qatar, which lacks hotel capacity for all teams, workers, volunteers and fans at the World Cup. So Doha has created camping and cabin sites, hiring cruise ships, and encouraging fans to stay in neighboring countries and fly in for games.

Qatar has estimated it will have 45,000 hotel rooms for the tournament.

Surrounding nations, like Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, also suggest they could see a spike in visitors — even though Bahrain is the only among them that allows alcohol. Even Iran, months ago, suggested developing plans for World Cup tourists to stay on its Kish Island. Apparently, nothing came of the idea and now the Islamic Republic is gripped by nationwide protests.

Meanwhile, Dubai has over 140,000 hotel rooms, putting it easily into the top 10 destinations worldwide as far as available hotel rooms go, said Philip Wooller, a senior director at STR, a company that monitors the hotel industry. Dubai also offers price ranges greater than what Qatar can at the moment, given the demand, he said.

“I think Dubai is an incredibly eclectic city,” Wooller said. “You can buy a room for $100 or you can buy a room for $5,000.”

Still, he added, he expects “Qatar will be able to accommodate most of the fans coming to the World Cup (but) there will be a knock-on in Dubai.”

Dubai appears fully poised to take advantage of the tournament.

Its low-cost carrier, FlyDubai, plans as many as 30 round-trip flights a day during the World Cup, shuttling fans between Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central, or DWC, in the city-state’s southern reaches, to Doha International Airport, Qatar’s old main airport.

Other airlines that may use Al Maktoum airport include KLM, Qatar Airways and Wizz Air, while private jets will fly from there as well to the tournament, said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports. That could help boost the profile of an airfield that Dubai hopes will expand in the future as Dubai International Airport nears its capacity.

“It’s a great experience for us to see DWC suddenly so busy for the World Cup,” he said. “It will give exposure to the convenience of the airport for so many people that (airlines may) actually favor operating from there.”

The expected economic boost from the World Cup for Dubai comes after its turnaround since suffering through the pandemic. It spent billions for its delayed Expo 2020 world’s fair — which largely attracted visitors already in the UAE.

Dubai, like much of the world, had a lockdown early in 2020. However, by July that year, it announced it was reopening for tourists. Though Dubai faced a surge of international criticism when cases spread from the emirate months later, around New Year, Dubai and the rest of the UAE widely rolled out vaccines.

The UAE dropped its mandatory mask policy about a month ago.

“Dubai is on a lot of people’s radars as one of the most phenomenal places to come and visit,” said Dennis McGettigan, the CEO of an eponymous empire of Irish bars in Dubai and elsewhere. “And I think the World Cup has added a layer” of desire to visit.

McGettigan said his bar business is already up as much as 40% on its sales, compared to 2019, something he linked to pent-up demand for socializing after the worst days of the virus. He said he’s overstaffed his locations and expects strong business through the tournament.

But McGettigan and others acknowledged headwinds Dubai faces in attracting World Cup tourists — the strong U.S. dollar. The Emirati dirham has long been pegged to the dollar, making a Dubai trip now more expensive for those using British pounds, euros and other currencies.

Other financial dangers also lurk for tourist-reliant Dubai, built on the promise of globalization.

“We still need to be cautious of global economic pressures, including rising interest rates, high oil and commodity prices, supply chain issues that are creating inflationary pressures which could impact Dubai’s economic recovery,” said Sapna Jagtiani of S&P Global Ratings.

McGettigan doesn’t expects that to be too much of a damper. His firm also will be organizing a massive fan zone venue in the grassy expanses of Dubai Media City, complete with musical performances, massive televisions and even a winter-themed area in Dubai’s desert environs.

“I, for one, am absolutely delighted to see everything back on full steam ahead and actually a little bit more,” he said.

By JON GAMBRELL