JOHN BECK FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE, SIMON HOLMES / GETTY IMAGES
metro system is the world’s first three-class
“tube” with gold, standard and family
carriages that can be used by women who
don’t want to travel alongside unmarried
men — or mobs of chanting fans. With
winter temperatures around 27C by day
and 20C by night, it’s comfortable to
walk from the taxi drop-off points or the
metro stations to and from the stadiums.
Dedicated fans will be able to see four
games in four stadiums a day (if they hurry).
Hosting the tournament in such a small
country will also save fans from having to
book last-minute flights and hotels in
faraway cities as teams advance through
the knockout stages, as usually happens.
Claims that local fans are uninterested
in football and will watch largely in silence
appear to be misplaced. The games I
attended during the Arab Cup in December
were raucous enough and the atmosphere
will probably be the same when fans watch
teams from outside the region. To entertain
supporters between games, the Corniche
will become a giant fan zone and Doha’s
museums and galleries are being spruced up.H
owever, Qatar’s small size and tiny
population — 2.8 million, 90 per cent
of whom are foreigners — throw up
challenges. The emirate is expecting
1.5 million visitors over the month-
long tournament but will have just
130,000 rooms in hotels, on cruise
ships and at “glamp” sites in the desert,
20,000 of which will be taken by teams and
their staff, Fifa officials and journalists.
Locals are being encouraged to share their
homes with visiting supporters via Airbnb
and other agents to create an extra 64,
rooms. That still won’t create enough beds
at the start of the tournament, when fan
numbers are at their peak. Supporters who
are trying to book accommodation before
they buy tickets are already complaining
that they cannot find any — or any
affordable — rooms online.Will it all be enough of a success that the
footballing and wider world can put to one
side the corruption and exploitation?
The evidence on the ground suggests
that the practical issues will probably be
resolved by a combination of cash and the
natural ingenuity and determination of
football fans. Those who can’t find
accommodation in Qatar will easily do
so in neighbouring Dubai and Abu Dhabi
and fly in and out — a one-hour hop. If
the political protests are small, they’ll
probably pass off reasonably peacefully.
Police are having “sensitivity training”
and have received orders not to do what
they normally do in the Gulf when
demonstrators take to the streets — crack
heads. Government officials hope that once
the tournament starts the thrill of the
games will prove more alluring than the
power of protest. They may well be right.
Workers’ rights remain the big issue.
Barely a week goes by without a newspaper
or TV news channel unearthing fresh
evidence that many contractors in Qatar
regard migrant workers as largely
expendable. This newspaper has reported
how labourers worked shifts of up to 20
hours in summer, with only a few short
breaks and insufficient water. Some have
had wages withheld or unpaid altogether.
Over coffee and pastries in a local hotel,
one government official concedes that by
failing to address the workers’ rights issue
sooner “it has become a disaster”. Another,
speaking privately as all officials in Doha
do for fear of offending the emir and losing
their job, attempts an explanation. “When
you’re a wealthy country, a monarchy,
people think you can change everything
in one day. But the business lobby here is
very powerful.”
The Gulf states of Qatar, Dubai and Abu
Dhabi have been built and have prospered
using an economic model based on
hyper-cheap migrant manual labour, mainly
from south Asia and Africa. Persuading theQ
atar is splashing the cash to ensure
its national team, ranked 48th in
the world, puts in a creditable showing.
The former Barcelona and Spain
midfielder Xavi, above, now manager
of Barcelona, joined the Qatari club
Al Sadd in 2015 after retiring from elite
competition, helping to develop players.
He was paid a reported £7 million a
year. Also pulling in the big bucks is
Félix Sánchez Bas, the Qatar national
team manager and a former Barcelona
youth coach. An elite training academy,
Aspire, has been set up. The
investments are paying off: Qatar beat
Japan to win the Asian Cup for the first
time in 2019 and after a strong showing
at the Arab Cup is now ranked first in
the Gulf ahead of Saudi Arabia.Can Qatar score?
Far left and above:
Al Bayt stadium
during last month’s
Arab Cup. Left:
Max Tunon, head
of the International
Labour Organisation
in Qatarbiggest and most powerful contractors in
the region to reverse decades-old practices
that have proved very profitable “takes
time”, the official says.
However, there are signs of change. Ask
Max Tunon from Manchester. If anyone
holds the key to the success or failure of the
World Cup it’s him, because he’s the head
of the Qatar office of the International
Labour Organisation (ILO), a United
Nations agency that sets and monitorsThe Sunday Times Magazine • 13