He wore the LGBT badge despite the harassment. A fan recounts his experience in the Qatar World Cup

Unlike Russia or Brazil, Qatar is the smallest country hosting the World Cup matches, where you can move between stadiums to attend the matches in less than an hour to reach the farthest stadium, and it is linked to one metro line.

The area of ​​Qatar is about 44,000 square miles, which is equivalent to the size of the US state of Connecticut, while the area of ​​Russia, which hosted the 2018 tournament, is about 6.3 million square miles, or about 1,500 times the area of ​​Qatar, while the area of ​​Brazil, which hosted the 2014 tournament, is 3.2 million square miles. That is, 727 times the area of ​​Qatar, according to a report published by a newspaper Washington Post.

The report stated that the matches in Qatar caused “some inconvenience in the capital, Doha, which suffers from heavy traffic,” especially with the influx of supporters of the teams through the metro lines.

World Cup stadiums

He points out that this year’s World Cup is different from what it was in 2018, when Russia then distributed the matches in 9 stadiums spread across the country, some of which required a full day’s journey by train.

Qatar, which has a population of about 3 million, is expected to host more than one million people during the World Cup, according to the newspaper.

Public transport lines during the World Cup

To accommodate the large numbers of fans, Qatar has provided several options for accommodation, as there are hotels that charge more than a thousand dollars per night, and others who reside in cruise ships anchored near Doha, in addition to providing low-cost apartments, not to mention the residence of some in neighboring Gulf countries who travel to Doha to attend matches. Just.

The report states that the intense pressure imposed by the tournament on Qatar led to finding “innovative solutions”, as it established 7 giant stadiums, but because the country did not need this number of stadiums, “Stadium 974”, which accommodates about 40,000 people, was built from shipping containers, and it will be dismantled. After the tournament and installed in another country.

Fan zones in Doha

The report recalls that despite the stadiums that evoke the country’s culture, their establishment had a heavy human cost, and human rights groups say that thousands have been killed or injured since the preparations began over the past years.

Qatar has come under fire for deaths, accidents and failure to pay foreign workers, and Qatar has passed major reforms to improve worker safety and hold companies accountable that fail to adhere to standards, according to an AFP report.

The authorities paid hundreds of millions of euros to compensate for the delayed salaries, but human rights organizations considered that these reforms were late and insufficient.

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