Ban on Beer Is Latest Flash Point in World Cup Culture Clash

DOHA, Qatar — The tiny but fabulously wealthy Gulf nation of Qatar has spent 12 years preparing to host soccer’s World Cup, a marathon of planning and patience during which it has redrawn an entire nation by building stadiums and hotels, roads and sidewalks, even a gleaming new subway system.

Yet it was not until Friday that it finally settled on what to do about the sale of beer during the tournament, and its decision — to the consternation of the roughly one million fans set to arrive in the coming days — was to ban the sale of it at the event’s eight stadiums.

The decision, announced by FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, was an abrupt about-face by Qatar, and the latest flash point in the ongoing culture clash inherent in staging the tournament in a small, conservative Middle Eastern monarchy.

Ever since Qatar was surprisingly awarded the hosting rights to the World Cup more than a decade ago, local organizers and global soccer leaders had insisted that beer — a fixture at sporting events around the world, but one that is tightly controlled in Qatar — would be available for fans. Two days before the event’s first game, though, that message changed.

Instead, Qatari officials have decided that the only drinks that will be on sale to fans at games during the monthlong World Cup will be nonalcoholic.

It is unclear what prompted the ban so close to the tournament, but the sudden change was in keeping with the tournament’s ever-shifting policy toward alcohol, and its availability to fans attending games.

Plans have repeatedly been drawn up and then revised, and then remade again — a possible signal that domestic politics or even royal family influence were playing a role.

“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,” FIFA said. The decision, it said, would require “removing sales points of beer from Qatar’s FIFA World Cup 2022 stadium perimeters.”

World Cup 2022

Qatar’s ban on beer in stadiums complicated FIFA’s relationship with Budweiser, which pays $75 million every four years to be associated with the World Cup.

Qatar’s ban on beer in stadiums complicated FIFA’s relationship with Budweiser, which pays $75 million every four years to be associated with the World Cup.Credit…Patrick T. Fallon/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A beer stand at a fan festival in Doha, Qatar’s capital.

Sales in fan zones will be unaffected by the revised stadium plan. A beer stand at a fan festival in Doha, Qatar’s capital. Sales in fan zones will be unaffected by the revised stadium.
plan.Credit…Muath Freij/Reuters.

The decision to ban beer comes a week after an earlier edict that dozens of red beer tents covered in the branding of Budweiser, a longstanding World Cup sponsor and the official beer of the tournament, would have be moved to more discreet locations at Qatar’s World Cup stadiums, away from where most of the crowds attending the games would pass.

Staff members, according to three people with direct knowledge of that earlier change, were told the move followed security advice. But the belief that the change had originated with Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani — the brother of Qatar’s ruling emir and the royal most active in the day-to-day planning of the tournament — suggested it was nonnegotiable.

Now beer will not merely be hidden out of view: It will not be available to fans at all.

The ban is the latest and most dramatic point of contention yet between FIFA and Qatar, which had sought and won the right to host the World Cup as part of an ambitious effort to announce itself on the global stage.

In recent weeks, Qatari government leaders, including the emir, have mounted an increasingly strident defense of their nation.

But their latest U-turn will infuriate fans; leave organizers scrambling to adjust; and complicate FIFA’s $75 million sponsorship agreement with Budweiser.
(New York Times)
=====================

For More News Join Our WhatsApp Group With This Link Below:
WhatsApp group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/CdPVxGOPHCI5Kd4ALZduZ7