In a month, on November 20, the soccer world cup will open in Qatar.
Be sure that you have never seen anything like this before: the most beautiful stadiums, the greenest grass, the most inflated ball and the best players.
What money doesn't buy, much more money will buy.
For sure.
Take a small number that will whet your appetite.
If in the previous World Cup, in Russia, the summer of 2018, 11.6 billion dollars were invested, in this one in Qatar 220 billion have already been buried.
An astronomical amount for an event that will last about a month.
Just for comparison - the expenses of the State of Israel this year will amount to 158 billion dollars.
Put confidence, education, health inside, and also a small tip for the waiter.
The Qataris do not want another sporting event for the record.
They are going for a demonstration that will put small statements on the same ramp as the great powers.
That's why the huge money was not only invested in the eight spectacular stadiums - but also in building roads, airports and 130 thousand hotel rooms for 1.2 million tourists, who will come back to tell how wonderful the place is.
It will be an organized and shiny event, just what - don't look for a soul in it.
Football, which started life as a poor and simple sport, has been losing its roots for years in favor of the rich.
Clubs with history and tradition become the playgrounds of Lamborghini owners and caviar lovers.
Take for example Newcastle United, a team from the northeast of England, which for years hung around at the bottom of the league and was suffocated by financial problems.
Its fans begged the owner, Mike Ashley, a local businessman, to leave.
Then, a year ago, redemption appeared - the Saudi Public Investment Fund purchased the club and overnight turned it into one of the richest in the world.
The fans celebrated the new era with Saudi flags, forgetting about the cornerstones of the club that was founded 130 years ago.
In the masterful film "Billy Elliot", when the ballet teacher asks the boy to bring the objects he is most attached to, he arrives with Newcastle's black and white shirt.
Billy, to remind you, came from a family of coal miners in the area, of which the group has always been its symbol.
But when Newcastle played against Manchester United this week, their kit was white and green, like the colors of the Saudi flag.
Today, football is a good investment, a platform to improve the image and a source of strength.
With the huge amount of money, almost any dirt can be swept under the carpet.
This World Cup was born with suspicions that the hosting win was bought illegally.
It was the British "Guardian" that published last year that no less than 6,500 workers, most of them Asians, were killed during the construction of the Qatari project.
The cries of the human rights activists were also deafened.
Because with all due respect to life, this is about football.
The upcoming World Cup has already managed to change world order.
It will be held for the first time in the winter, because it is impossible to play in the desert in the summer months.
And another blow: the fans will have to deal with restrictions on alcohol consumption.
Beer will only be sold from certain hours in authorized areas because of the laws of the Muslim country, which unusually agreed to close half an eye.
It's still hard for me to see English, German and Dutch fans killing the hours until the game sipping flavored water.
One of my most exciting memories of the World Cup tournaments was in 2002 in Suwan, South Korea.
Spain had just beaten Ireland in the round of 16 in a dramatic penalty shootout.
The bus at the end of the game was full of sad Irishmen, until one of them stood up and shouted "It can't be over!"
And the whole vehicle was shaking from the song "ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE" by Monty Python.
At such a level of depression, such marvelous vocal quality is only possible with the aid of pints of Guinness beer.
There is no other option.
Now those colorful fans will have to remember that in 2022 a new Sheikh came to the neighborhood.
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