When British fan Chris ordered a beer with dinner at the Kebab Restaurant in Qatar, which hosts the FIFA World Cup, he was told they didn’t serve it.
Chris, a 34-year-old sales manager from London, was initially frustrated before opting for lemonade and expressing that if he were a few years younger he wouldn’t have been at this edition of the football world cup.
In the conservative Islamic country, finding somewhere to grab an alcoholic drink, a fixture at sporting events around the world, has been a priority for many fans since Qatar surprisingly banned the sale of beer in stadiums.
Conversely, many bars and nightclubs in the capital, Doha, one of the rare places where fans can drink alcohol, were packed with people and their tables were full on Sunday when the tournament kicked off with the host country playing a match against Ecuador .
Even the fan area of the big event, which can accommodate 40,000 spectators and alcoholic beverages are allowed, outside the bars of luxury hotels, was so crowded that the police intervened on Saturday night to remove thousands of them.
The unusually high price of alcohol upset even many who were used to a tournament “full of beer,” according to the Associated Press.
“We lack beer,” said Fabian Cruz, 48, from Ecuador, as he strolled through downtown Doha, adding that he would not try to go to the fan zone again after Saturday night’s chaos, emphasizing the difficulty of spend $14 in his hotel on the pint of beer
The question of where and how to get alcohol dominated World Cup fan groups on WhatsApp and Facebook.
These groups have had many exchanges of advice on how to find a place to drink, or how to take it to Qatar, and put alcoholic beverages in sterilized containers, while some have reported that their bottles have been confiscated at the airport.
“We are disappointed,” said England’s Ritu Mohan of the ban on beer inside stadiums, noting that he was wandering the streets on Sunday night looking for pubs with empty spaces. “We should have known what we were doing when we heard that Qatar will host the tournament.
