The tickets, the problems and the truth about Qatar: Year to the 2022 World Cup, it's going to be interesting - Walla! sport

2021-11-21T12:16:05.532Z

The Israelis, the Corona and the special deals. The crazy stadiums, the unique atmosphere and the justified concerns. In another year, the controversial World Cup will begin

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The tickets, the problems and the truth about Qatar: Year to the 2022 World Cup, it's going to be interesting

The Israelis, the Corona and the special deals.

The crazy stadiums, the unique atmosphere and the justified concerns.

Another year will see the controversial World Cup begin, and alongside the scandals and corruption, there is also a positive and intriguing side.

Everything you wanted to know about the tournament, which already appears: we have not seen one before

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Preparations, scandals, football, Qatar.

A familiar combination towards 2022 in Doha (Photo: GettyImages, Sean Gallup)

A year of preparations

The coming year will be full of national team football and will in fact constitute a professional, administrative, and image preparation for the World Cup. At the end of the month, the Arab Cup will open in Qatar, a tournament featuring 16 Arab teams from West Asia and North Africa. The Arab Cup replaces the traditional Confederations Cup, which was held in the host country a year before each World Cup, with the participation of champions from all continents and the host country. Despite the fantasies about Muhammad Salah against Riyad Mahraz or Hakim Zeish, most of the teams will come without the stars from Europe, and the squads will be based mainly on players from the local leagues in the area and youngsters.

The tournament will provide a tool trial and a first look at the innovative stadiums built ahead of the World Cup, and the transport and hosting infrastructure of an event that is supposed to host millions of people for one concentrated month, in a small place like Qatar. At the 22nd World Cup, fans will be able to watch three games a day, without the need for a flight or a particularly long train ride. Everything away from a fast light rail, or boat, for those who want.

Reports of corruption and an addictive tender are a familiar thing at the World Cup, but Qataris seem to have taken it one step further (Photo: GettyImages, Sean Gallup)

List of issues and problems

But until then there is still a lot of football to play, to determine who the teams will be there.

So far 13 teams have secured their place - Germany, Denmark, Belgium, France, England, the Netherlands, Spain, Serbia, Switzerland, Brazil, Argentina and of course host Qatar - but the qualifiers are still in full swing.

January and March will be international windows where Asia, South America, North and Central America and the Caribbean will complete their home stages.

The playoffs in Europe and Africa will be played in March, and the intercontinental playoffs in June.

Oceania is the only continent that has not yet started the qualifiers, due to the corona virus, and there is currently no official solution to the situation.

There may be a flash tournament in Qatar in March, or in close proximity to the World Cup itself.

Whoever qualifies from Oceania will play in the inter-regional playoffs.

It is not unlikely that he will be eliminated, and New Zealand, who usually qualify, will go straight into the playoffs.

Will be spectacular.

Qatar Stadium (Photo: Reuters)

A little hot, but get ready for good conditions.

Dressing room (Photo: Reuters)

Qatar does not want to be South Africa

The host team, Qatar, really does not intend to serve as a backdrop for the tournament.

Qatar is the reigning Asian champion, and in recent years has participated in the Copa America, the Gold Cup and serves as a rival of friendly matches.

If Qataris used to be based on citizens of other countries, this is no longer the case.

The Qatari team has been running with a squad of players and a coach who have been working together for over a decade, some of them right from the boys at Aspire Academy (an elite sports academy established in Qatar in the early 2000s), through all age groups.

The big star is Akram Afif, who was coached by Xavi Hernandez at al-Sad before moving to Barcelona;

And the leading striker, Almoaz Ali, is the first player in the world to score goals in overland tournaments in Asia, America and Europe.

In this sense, Qatar did everything they could to prevent what happened to South Africa from happening to them - to host the World Cup and not go through the home stage.

About 6,500 killed.

Workers in Qatar (Photo: Reuters)

Investment of billions.

The stadiums (Photo: Reuters)

What do we really know about Qatar?

Whether she succeeds or not, there are a few things to know about the host of the upcoming World Cup. Qatar is a small principality in the north of the Arabian Peninsula, which relative to the fact that it is a small peninsula bordering Saudi Arabia and surrounded by the waters of the Persian Gulf, is a place that produces a great deal of noise interest.

After huge gas and oil reserves were discovered there in 1939, the place began to be run differently at the economic level. In 1971, Qatar declared independence after years as a British protectorate, and since then it has been headed by the a-Thani tribe, a Sunni and Wahhabi dynasty.

From 1995, with a generational change in leadership, Qatar began to undergo accelerated modernization processes. Infrastructure, construction, agriculture, communications, with everything relying on gas and oil. By 2010 Qatar had become the richest country in the world at the top. This momentum was made possible, among other things, by the fact that about 90 percent of the Qatari population is made up of foreign workers. Migrants, mostly from South Asia, have been the working hands of this place for years.

With growth and money comes the impact.

This is how Qatar became a significant force in the Middle East.

For years it has housed an American military base, while supporting protest movements in the Arab world and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Such things have given Qatar the name of a country that plays on all pitches, and acquires supporters and enemies from all sides.

One of those key pitches is football.

Qatari football started in the late 1940s through British workers in the drilling fields, and there are still some big clubs in the country with hot rivals like al-Sad, al-Ryan and al-Duhil, but Qatari football has made headlines mainly in the last two decades, through aging stars who came to finish there Career, through the World Cup, through Paris Saint-Germain, through Qatar Airways, and even through Doha Stadium in Sakhnin.

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What a country, unique.

Qatar (Photo: Reuters)

The attitude towards Israel, workers' rights and how it will affect the tournament

Although there is no so-called official diplomatic relationship between Israel and Qatar, and in the media most of the time Qatar will be portrayed as an enemy, according to various sources there is cooperation between the countries, which is an integral part of Israel's conduct in the Middle East.

Israelis (vaccinated only) who purchase World Cup tickets through the Fan ID system (which was already in use in the previous World Cup) will have no problem getting to Qatar and enjoying the tournament.

This is a promise that the Qataris committed to at the stage of the offer of accommodation.

So far everything sounds good, but this World Cup has less positive angles.

For example, revelations and reports about the bribe received in the selection process in Qatar as a host.

In recent years, bribery deals between associations and countries have been exposed to FIFA officials, including ahead of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, 2014 in Brazil and 2018 in Russia.

In addition, Qatar had no infrastructure to host such an event, and the construction of huge stadiums, new cities and fan complexes led to the deaths of thousands of workers. According to the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, about 6,500 workers died in the construction of the 2022 World Cup facilities, and this led to a series of protests against the tournament, from social activists, media people to the Norwegian national team.

And that's understandable. There is nothing in football that is worth a human life. Even before the last three World Cups there have been reports of workers' deaths and evacuation of residents, but none of these cases have reached the dramatic number attributed to the Qatari case. Dealing with the issue had a direct internal impact on Qatar. In recent years it has carried out reforms in building and employment laws, claiming to have improved working conditions.

And yet, it seems that until the World Cup, and probably even during it, the preoccupation with these issues will not stop.

Already last week the Danish association announced that it would take a number of steps that would "reduce the team's participation in commercial and image acts during the World Cup in Qatar", and disseminate information to the Danish fans who arrive.

The feeling is that this is just the first swallow in a series of acts on the part of Western associations.

So far, it does not seem to be a boycott, or something that will prevent this World Cup from taking place as usual.

In that sense, the locomotive had already left the station.

Unlike previous tournaments, this time everything is close.

Qatar Stadium (Photo: Reuters)

All the details about the ticket sale

As for game tickets, the sale will open in early 2022 through FIFA's website, as in previous tournaments. At the same time, according to FIFA, although only a third of the teams have qualified, some 82,500 accommodation packages in Qatar have already been sold to agencies in more than 60 countries. The World Cup - with the leading countries being Qatar, Mexico, USA, Argentina and India. In terms of hospitality style, Qatar has allocated more than 130,000 guest rooms at different levels (2 stars to 5). Apart from standard hotels, it includes options that can only be found in the Gulf , Like staying in "floating luxury hotels" on boats and yachts, five-star tents in the desert or villas with a turret overlooking the bay. And for

anyone who feared this World Cup would be free of illegal alcohol in Qatar - then nothing to worry about. The country, and of course it will be available in the various fan zone complexes.Even if it is a Muslim country, there will be no World Cup without beer.

And finally, how is it possible without corona practices.

Currently entering the country without isolation is possible for Pfizer, Modern, Astrasnica, Johnson & Johnson vaccines - with a PCR test performed with a negative result 72 hours before landing.

Unvaccinated tourists, or those who have not completed the required amount of vaccine, are forced, at least for a year before the tournament, to stay in isolation at the hotel for about seven days (at their expense of course), and only given a negative PCR test result on Friday.

Investment of billions as part of an image struggle.

Beckham in Qatar (Photo: Official Website, David Beckham's Instagram Account)

The opportunity of the Middle East

So true, Qatar is not a country with a particularly rich football tradition, and the reasons behind its investment in football are part of a tremendous regional-global political game, designed primarily to enhance their image and present them as patrons of the beautiful game.

And yet, the World Cup in Qatar is set to be one of the most fascinating events in the history of world football.

In a year from now, the Al-Beit Stadium (the house) is expected to be full of 60,000 people who will watch along with several billion other spectators on screens around the world, in the opening ceremony and game, and the biggest event in world football will be launched. With all the Corona plague, it's too early now to assess whether and what the restrictions will be on the crowd, and how many people will actually be there. "Any fan who bought a ticket, and is vaccinated, will enter without a problem," he told Walla! Sports factor in the organizing committee this week. "Even those who present appropriate medical certificates will enter, and those who are not vaccinated will be able to get vaccinated at the airport." More surprises are true on this subject. Qatar is one of the countries with the lowest corona percentages in the world, and recently, FIFA and Qatar have been in talks to facilitate the entry of the unvaccinated so that they can take part in the World Cup.

There are many things that can be said about the upcoming World Cup and Qatar, and the moves it is making in the world of football.

Some are good, some are bad.

But alongside the incessant criticism and the antagonism that is prevalent among many for this event, one can also look at the opportunity that this specific World Cup creates.

For us as Israelis, and for the Middle East in general.

We live in an area with amazing cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity.

With the best food and hospitality, and the place from which came out the ranks that changed the world.

At the same time it is also a very conflicted and stressed area, with countless rifts, wars and violent conflicts, and with the ongoing intervention of great powers.

As Israelis, we are well aware of boycotts and demonstrations.

Now also Qatar (Photo: GettyImages, Alessandro Della Bella)

As Israelis, we know very well how it feels when we are boycotted at a sporting event, whether during one intifada or another, or in judo battle at the Olympics. We know what it's like not to come and play with us and with us, because of things that have nothing to do with sports at all.

An event like the World Cup is a risk, but also an opportunity. World Cup opens countries and regions to the world, he changes them. for better and for worse. Ask Barcelona, Brazil, Russia, Tokyo, and as the Qataris will testify, it happens long before the opening whistle.

The World Cup in Qatar is an opportunity not only for the country itself, but an opportunity for an entire region. Because it is possible that the World Cup in the Middle East may actually "calm down" for a brief moment. Lower the flames, allow to enjoy the history, the hospitality, and to meet and get to know each other through football.

The Israelis who come will have the opportunity to come to an Arab country and meet people from our neighborhood.

Really understand how we are seen and what is thought of us, and whether the way we see the neighbors is really who they are in reality.

When all this happens in a global World Cup atmosphere, it can have very positive consequences for the future.

And may or may not.

But perhaps, the 2022 World Cup is an opportunity worth taking.

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Source: walla

All sports articles on 2021-11-21