Qatar bans alcohol at FIFA World Cup

In an abrupt about-face, Qatari officials have decided that the only drinks that will be on sale to fans at games during the monthlong World Cup will be nonalcoholic.

The decision, which came two days before the tournament’s opening match on Sunday, was confirmed on Friday by FIFA, the tournament’s owner.

“Following discussions between host country authorities and FIFA, a decision has been made to focus the sale of alcoholic beverages on the FIFA Fan Festival, other fan destinations and licensed venues,” FIFA announced. The decision, it said, would mean “removing sales points of beer from Qatar’s FIFA World Cup 2022 stadium perimeters.”

The ban on beer is the latest and most dramatic change to an evolving alcohol plan that has for months increased tensions between FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, and Qatar, a conservative Muslim nation where the sale of alcohol is tightly controlled. 

The move puts Fifa on a collision course with Budweiser, which is thought to have a sponsorship deal worth $75million with the organising body.

And the argument may yet drag Doha into a legal battle because officials agreed to ‘respect FIFA’s commercial partners’ when launching their hosting bid, and again when signing contracts after winning the vote in 2010.

The rule-change is said to have been made following the request of Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the brother of Qatar’s ruler. 

It is just the latest controversy to plague an already fraught World Cup – the first to be held in a Muslim nation – which has thrown football’s governing ethos and traditional trappings into conflict with the hosts’ conservative interpretation of Islam.

Fans in Qatar reacted with a mix of anger and resignation at the ban, with 25-year-old England supporter Alex Todd describing it as ‘madness’. ‘Why is the World Cup here when basic pleasures are taken from you,’ he asked.