3 days left

[JustinL]

The "religious laws", whilst in place, are at the behest of the Qatari government.

There is *no* law in Qatar against drinking alcohol, only against drinking alcohol in public places. Funnily enough, there are similar laws in *this* country (albeit not so strictly enforced!)

You can drink beer in Qatar, most of the hotels have their own Bars, aimed primarily at tourists. FIFA are aware of this, and serious discussions have taken place as part of the bid-process between FIFA's inspection team and the Qatari government.

The feeling is that there will be "official" fan parks (as there were in Germany '06 and South Africa '10) where fans will be able to congregate and - if they wish - drink beer.

Also the laws on displays of affection are there primarily to protect the local population (daft as that sounds). The Qatar government have confirmed that visitors to the World Cup will not be overly prosecuted for such behaviour, as long as it is not publicly indecent (so no getting your a**e out on the beach, like that infamous couple did in Dubai!)

Also with regards to photography the 'rules' are not dissimilar than what you might find here, in that you cannot in the UK photograph military installations, nor can you photograph members of the public against their will.

It's very easy for people to take the negative stereotypes of the middle east and jump on an "it will be crap" bandwagon; but you have to realise one thing in Qatar's favour; money will be absolutely no object to them, and they are going to use the World Cup to positively show the Qatari state, and the rest of the Emirates (to better attract further development and business there).

It will be an interesting World Cup, that's for sure, and for those who say that Qatar has no football tradition; neither did Japan before they won the World Cup bid to host 2002, and look at the growth of the J-League now!

Of course, Qatar is a much smaller state than Japan, but there's no reason to suspect that a World Cup would not boost the popularity of the game there!

... all well and good Chris - and I understand the laws of Qatar quite well -- it is a very strict islamic nation.

- is holding the WC in Qatar the best for the game world wide ? Is it the best for the fans world wide ? - No imo

So it will boost the popularity in a country of 1.5 million people ??? - who cares ?? -- Japan has 150 million people !!!!

And what about the weather - the heat will be unbearable - it's all well and good to say the stadiums are going to have state of the art cooling systems - what about the energy required ? What do the fans do outside of the arena in the stifling heat ??

It was rigged pure and simple. England, USA, Australia, Spain should all feel duped - they were never going to win it.

 

[Strummer]

It isn't just the 1.5m in Qatar; it's the whole population of the Gulf and the wider Arab world.

On the one hand you could applaud FIFA for wanting to bring the "worlds game" to new areas (but if that's the case they should have said so before the bidding started!)

As to the weather; yes it's very hot in Qatar as you say 50 degrees some days and although the stadia may be air conditioned I'm not sure what they will do about the open air fan areas - that's going to be a very interesting technical discussion!

 

[MansfieldRed]

Seems like the Spartak Moscow fans celebrated the choice by holding up their Champions League tie for 20 minutes by throwing flares on to the pitch.

 

[Strummer]

Seems like the Spartak Moscow fans celebrated the choice by holding up their Champions League tie for 20 minutes by throwing flares on to the pitch.

Welcome to Russia.

Such behaviour is not uncommon.