Qatar was a unique World Cup. Since the dawn of the new millennium, the World Cup has shifted away from traditional football powerhouses as hosts in an attempt to grow the game in new regions. We’d seen the World Cup co-hosted by Japan and South Korea in 2002, South Africa become the first African hosts in 2010 and then came Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.
The build up to the Qatar World Cup was dogged by protest and worries about the tournament itself. The migrant workers, the majority from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, suffered under horrendous working conditions and there were reported deaths of several thousands of those migrant workers during the construction of the World Cup stadiums and of the infrastructure that was newly built in Doha for the finals. After the concerns of the LGBTQ community at the Russia World Cup, Qatar was deemed even worse, as there are no legal LGBTQ rights in Qatar. FIFA claims that the World Cup is a welcoming environment to all, but before the tournament had even been organised there were massive concerns.
There had been allegations of corruption in the voting process for both Russia and Qatar, and there seemed to be no good news in the run up to the tournament kicking off. The climate in Qatar was also a massive worry to matchgoers and players. During the summer the climate is one of extreme heat. So much so, that the entire footballing calendar would be overhauled for a season and a half to accommodate a winter World Cup in the Northern Hemisphere for the first time.
With great trepidation, the World Cup kicked off in mid-November, as club teams took a very long winter break.
There has never been a World Cup like Qatar 2022 in the logistics of the tournament. Qatar is a small country in size and in population. Compared directly with the 2026 World Cup spread across Mexico, Canada, and the USA, it is incomparable in size. What Qatar did well though, was creating a festival of football in essentially one city.
All 64 matches took place across eight stadiums in Doha, Al Khor, and the freshly built Lusail Stadium (and city). You could travel between the two stadiums the furthest apart within 45 minutes.
The beauty of any World Cup is the fans. The meeting of footballing minds, the colour of the flags and the kits, the traditional songs, the banter, the dancing on the streets, these are all things that make for fun, festive experiences in cities hosting matches and around the stadiums themselves. Now imagine that but all in one city, with fans from 32 countries all staying in the same place. 24 hours a day, all the participants of the World Cup mixed together.
The Souq Waqif in the heart of Doha, including the giant Golden Thumb statue, was given a thumbs up by the footballing world. On nights of big victories such as Saudi Arabia shocking world champions Argentina, or any of Morocco’s big victories on their way to the semi-finals, the centre of Doha became a giant festival of love. As alcohol is highly regulated in Qatar, there was a friendly, party atmosphere on the streets and the fan parks without the worry of alcohol fuelled violence, especially from Western European fans. If you wanted a drink, you could go to a hotel bar and pay over the odds.
On any given day you’d see Dutch supporters mixing with Brazilians mixing with Senegalese mixing with Koreans mixing with Welsh mixing with Australians mixing with Moroccans. It was truly a global festival of football in one city. It was easy to find last-minute tickets at face value, and easy to travel around. If you had a match ticket, that was your VISA into the country, but it also gave you free travel on the brand-new metro system that connected (most of) the stadiums. The stadiums were also eye-catching, an alien spaceship descended on the desert, a Bedouin tent with a football pitch inside, a stadium constructed from repurposed shipping containers – there was a lot to marvel at.
The many genuine grievances and horror stories of mistreatment of workers should never be forgotten but when the football came it brought people together. It’s important to raise the issues that need to be addressed and not let FIFA sweep things under the rug. A festival in one city though did show that the majority of football fans can co-exist in peace and that the beautiful game does bring people together from all walks of life. It shows what is possible.
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