FIFA World Cup 2022: Reasons why this World Cup is going to be unique in Qatar
The World Cup is starting in Qatar from Sunday.
It is being said that this is going to be the most unique tournament, in both good and bad terms.
What are the things that are going to make it unique?
more matches every day
This will be the shortest tournament since the 1978 Argentina World Cup, i.e. just 29 days from start to finish (20 November to 18 December).
This meant that the organizers would have to organize four matches every day on most days of the group stage – at 10:00, 13:00, 16:00 and 19:00 GMT.
Most World Cups have had three matches each day.
There is no gap between the group stage and the last sixteen as the knockout round will start the very next day after the group stage.
The distance between the two furthest stadiums, Al Bayt Stadium in the north of Doha to Al Zainab Stadium in the south of the capital, is approximately 64 kilometers.
It takes 50 minutes to cover this distance without traffic.
Disposable stadiums Seven of the eight stadiums prepared for this tournament have been built from the ground up.
Seven stadiums will have their chairs removed after the tournament, and Stadium 974 will be completely razed, which has been built from shipping containers.
After the tournament, the football team will be left with only one stadium, the Ahem Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayan.
After the final match, two lakh chairs will be removed and the organizers say that it will be given to the developing countries.
lack of accommodation For a country that doesn’t even feature in the top 100 cities in the world in terms of population or size, Qatar can’t afford the kind of accommodation typically seen at World Cups.
In March, there were only 30,000 hotel rooms in the country. Whereas official figures show that around 1.5 million people are coming from all over the world for this tournament.
The organizers hope that they will be able to arrange one lakh 30,000 rooms. This includes 9,000 beds in fan villages, tents and metal cabins, 60,000 rooms in apartments and villas, 50,000 rooms in hotels and 4,000 rooms on two cruise ships docked during the tournament.
This means that some sports fans will have to stay in neighboring countries such as Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE and catch flights to watch the game.
Oman is also offering 24 special flights daily from Muscat to Doha and free visa offer.
massive new infrastructure Qatar has built a large number of infrastructure to host this tournament.
Apart from stadiums, 100 new hotels have been built and new roads and a metro have been constructed.
A new city is being built around the last stadium in Lusail.
The budget for stadiums and training centers alone is 5.3 billion pounds (about Rs 48,816 billion).
bulk ticket sales Despite the lack of adequate accommodation, 28.9 lakh tickets had been sold till October.
This means that till now it is going to be the most crowded in terms of any World Cup.
How many beers arranged?
The cost of a beer in Qatar is 10 to 15 pounds (about one thousand to 1500 rupees). However there are many restrictions as to where you can buy.
Beer is generally freely available in licensed hotels, bars and restaurants in Qatar.
However, during the World Cup, beer will be sold in the fan zone and outside grounds of the stadium.
The cost of Fan Zone 500 ml beer will reportedly be around Rs.1125.
Drinking alcohol outside these designated places can result in a six-month jail term or a fine of £700 (Rs 67,934).
Carbon emissions in the tournament 36 lakh tonnes of carbon dioxide will be emitted during the tournament.
In Russia it was 2.1 million tonnes.
Criticism on the deaths of migrant workers
A report published in the Guardian last year said that 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh have died between 2010 and 2020 since Qatar became host.
Qatar’s government says the totals are misleading because all the deaths have been attributed to workers working on World Cup-related projects.
Amnesty International says it does not have an accurate figure because Qatar’s authorities have failed to investigate the deaths of thousands of migrant workers over the past decade.
