Qatar banned the sale of beer at World Cup stadiums on Friday, a sudden U-turn on the deal it made to secure the soccer tournament.

Qatar : Bans sale of beer | World cup beer ban

The 2022 FIFA World Cup is the 22nd FIFA World Cup, an association football tournament contested by the men’s national teams of FIFA’s member associations.

It will take place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022.

This will be the first World Cup to be held in the Arab world, and the second World Cup held entirely in Asia after the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan.

The tournament will be the last with 32 participating teams. The field will increase to 48 teams for the 2026 tournament in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

Qatar bans sale of beer

Qatar has banned the sale of beer at the eight stadiums where the FIFA World Cup 2022  matches will be held, the New York Times reported.

The sudden decision by Qatar officials comes after months of tension between them and FIFA, football’s global governing body, and just two days before the mega football tournament.

Qatar : Bans sale of beer | World cup beer ban

Initially, FIFA-sponsor Budweiser was the only beer permitted to be sold at the Qatar World Cup official venues.

Budweiser has been the exclusive World Cup brand since 1986 and parent company AB InBev renewed its deal through 2022 with FIFA in a 2011 signing after Qatar was confirmed as host.

In September, organisers of the World Cup in Qatar had finalised a policy to serve beer with alcohol to football fans at stadiums and fan zones in the Muslim-majority country.

The FIFA World Cup 2022 will kick off in Qatar on Sunday, November 20 with an opening ceremony and match. The hosts will face off against Ecuador in the inaugural match of the highly-anticipated football championship.

Qatar : Bans sale of beer | World cup beer ban

The biggest tournament in football is expected to attract more than 1 million visitors, including fans from 31 other nations, to Qatar.

Qatar World Cup beer ban

According to a report by Associated Press (AP), the Qatari authorities have decided to ban the sale and consumption of alcohol at the stadiums. The official announcement from FIFA also arrived where they have categorically said that alcohol will be banned in stadiums, but will be available in FIFA fan parks and other fan destinations.

The FIFA World Cup 2022 is just two days away, and fans are eagerly anticipating the quadrennial footballing extravaganza in the Middle Eastern country of Qatar.

However, the World Cup has already been riddled with controversy especially because of the host country and its archaic laws.

Qatar : Bans sale of beer | World cup beer ban

From accusations of bribery to human rights abuse, there have been a lot of protests for some very wrong reasons.

The change in rule is said to have been implemented at the request of Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the brother of Qatar’s ruler.

“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, removing the sales points of beer from Qatar’s FIFA World Cup 2022 stadium perimeters,” the FIFA statement read.

However, the parent company of Budweiser, AB InBev is a principal sponsor of the FIFA World Cup, as they pump in millions of dollars into the tournament in every edition. This has caused quite an ironic situation. In fact, the official Twitter account of Budweiser also tweeted “This is awkward” after the tweet. They however later deleted the tweet.

By Rishabh

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *