5 Big Challenges Qatar Face Ahead of Hosting FIFA World Cup 2022 » FirstSportz

Qatar will host the upcoming FIFA World Cup in winter 2022, which promises to be a great spectacle. This month-long football carnival, featuring 32 teams, over a million fans and eight world-class stadiums, is already making headlines around the world.

This competition has everything from controversies surrounding LGBT rights and alcohol availability to business opportunities during FIFA 2022. To understand the various controversies and opportunities that the 2022 World Cup will bring to Qatar, let’s take a look at the themes who are both against and for the host country in relation to the upcoming event:

1. Availability of alcohol

Alcohol availability is one of the biggest challenges Qatar faces ahead of the upcoming FIFA event. As an Islamic country, Qatar strictly prohibits the consumption of alcohol in public places or on the streets. Likewise, only a few licensed hotels and restaurants in the country serve alcohol.

As a result, the question remains how Qatar will handle the availability of alcohol on such a large scale during FIFA 2022 and whether it will be made available to fans in the stadiums?

2. Accommodation

Accommodation, like alcohol, is a hot topic ahead of the upcoming FIFA World Cup. The country has an estimated 40,000 hotel rooms and plans to increase that number to 70,000 by the World Cup. Given that the country is expected to receive 1.2 to 1.5 million visitors, 70,000 hotel rooms may not be enough to accommodate the number of visitors expected to visit Qatar.

3. Number of flights

Another unanswered question for Qatar ahead of the 2022 World Cup is the status of travel to the country. As already mentioned, Qatar expects 1.2 to 1.5 million visitors for the World Cup. This means that the number of visitors in Qatar will be about twice as high as at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. As a result, the obvious question is how the country will manage travel for such a large number of visitors.

4. Concerns about LGBTQ

Same-sex relationships have long been a source of conflict in Qatar, and the country has laws prohibiting them. In fact, there is a state penalty of up to seven years in prison, in extreme cases even the death penalty. Therefore, the question arises as to how Qatar will deal with the LGBT situation once the World Cup begins in the country.

5. Stadium cooling system

Because of the hot climate in the Middle Eastern country, the World Cup will be held in winter for the first time. In June and July, the typical months for the tournament, average temperatures in Qatar reach an insane 42 degrees Celsius, prompting the World Cup to be postponed to November and December.

But even then, temperatures hover around 24 degrees Celsius, and Qatar have had to take steps to keep their stadiums cool for players and fans alike. Will they be able to engineer systems that could help them provide fans with a great experience without breaking a sweat from massive heatwaves?

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