Beer banned for fans at World Cup matches
Fans will be unable to get a drink at stadiums after alcohol licences revoked at the eleventh hour
Beer was banned for fans attending World Cup matches yesterday after Fifa was forced into an about-turn by Qatari leaders. Two days before the host nation faces Ecuador in the opening match, it changed its mind about allowing alcohol to be sold at venues. Budweiser, the beer firm and Fifa sponsor, initially tweeted: “Well, this is awkward” but quickly deleted the post. Senior figures said Fifa was pressured into halting alcohol sales at stadiums by the country’s leaders.
BEER was banned for fans attending World Cup matches yesterday after Fifa was forced into an about-turn by Qatari leaders.
Just two days before the host nation faces Ecuador in the opening match, the country changed its mind about allowing alcohol at stalls outside venues.
Budweiser, the beer giant and Fifa sponsor, initially responded to the news by tweeting “Well, this is awkward” but deleted the post shortly afterwards.
Senior figures said Fifa had come under pressure from the country’s ultra-conservative leadership to remove a special allowance to sell alcohol at the event.
Qatar 2022 is understood to have cited in its last-minute decision that supporters from the Middle East and south-east Asia were not used to seeing drinking in public. Yet, organisers will permit premium customers in £19,000 hospitality stadium boxes to drink as much as they want.
The vast majority of an estimated 7,000 English and Welsh fans will only be able to drink predominantly at hotels and the main fan zone.
England fans’ groups condemned the decision to impose a beer ban at World Cup stadiums. Ashley Brown, of the Football Supporters’ Association, said: “Some fans like a beer at a game and some don’t, but the real issue is the last minute U-turn which speaks to a wider problem – the total lack of communication and clarity from the organising committee towards supporters. If they can change their minds on this at a moment’s notice, with no explanation, supporters will have understandable concerns about whether they will fulfil other promises relating to accommodation, transport or cultural issues.”
Potential contractual changes over the stadium beer ban could be hugely costly for Fifa.
Budweiser spends a reported $75million (£63.7million) to partner with the World Cup every four years. Budweiser’s parent company AB Inbev, a Fifa partner for 30 years, issued a terse statement over the decision but promised to continue working with Fifa. Some of the planned stadium activations cannot move forward due to circumstances beyond our control,” the statement said.
Budweiser will still be available to non-hospitality fans but only in one official Fifa “fan festival” in the al-bidda park. Three further fan festivals around the city are alcohol free, which Qatari organisers believe gives locals the chance to experience the festivals without having to be around drinkers.
That was not previously an option at stadiums, which was what forced yesterday’s about-turn. The Arcadia event space, based around a Bristol-built structure that features a 50-ton firebreathing spider, is now the only all-day drinking venue, serving beer between 10am and 5am.
In the past, Qatari organisers have had to placate more conservative elements of society concerned about of the pace of modernisation.
The furore adds to concerns around preparations, with many water fountains at airports and stadiums still switched off. In Qatar, alcohol is normally only available in certain hotels.
At the last moment, 12 years after winning the right to hold the World Cup, Qatar has made it impossible to buy a drink in or around any of the stadiums. That means an alcoholic drink. Still on sale will be the sponsor Budweiser’s alcohol-free version Bud Zero. Bud Zero sounds like a suitable match with Fifa No-friends, which has got us into this fine mess. It is not that fans are unable to go 90 minutes without a drink (any more than refraining from homosexual activities for the duration of their visit). After all, you cannot watch football in British stadiums with a drink in your hand. It is the arbitrary change of mind in laying down the law that rankles. “Hospitality is part of our culture,” said a spokeswoman for the supreme committee. Yet the impression left is of a hot, intolerant country that does not like the manners of its guests.