The World Cup is equal elements sporting occasion and worldwide celebration — and for a lot of followers, alcohol performs a big position. That is been true in stadiums, and in bars that open early or keep open late to point out video games.
However the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is not like any earlier than it. Simply two days earlier than the match's first match within the Muslim nation, officers made the shock announcement that followers will not be allowed to drink beer on the nation's eight World Cup stadiums — a reversal of a beforehand introduced coverage.
Alcohol is tightly regulated in Qatar, the place customs brokers are beneath orders to grab any booze guests attempt to convey into the nation.
It is one in every of many cultural clashes and potential authorized points that followers may encounter in Qatar, significantly in the event that they're touring from extra open societies. This is a fast information:
This World Cup can be drier
For an indication of how dramatic the shift in Qatar is, contemplate that FIFA efficiently pressured Brazil to vary its federal legal guidelines to permit alcohol gross sales in its stadiums earlier than it hosted the 2014 World Cup — overturning a ban that had been enacted attributable to violence at its stadiums.
"Alcoholic drinks are a part of the FIFA World Cup, so we'll have them," then-FIFA secretary basic Jerome Valcke stated again in 2012. "Excuse me if I sound a bit boastful however that is one thing we cannot negotiate."
However that was then. In Qatar, common followers will not have entry to alcohol at matches. Solely spectators within the stadiums' high-end luxurious suites can have quick access to booze. Exterior of the stadiums, followers can nonetheless drink at particular World Cup gathering areas, or at specifically licensed eating places, bars, and inns across the nation.
Basically, the general public consumption of alcohol is prohibited in Qatar — an offense that may convey as much as six months in jail and a high quality of greater than $800, in keeping with the Library of Congress. Anybody smuggling alcohol into the nation can withstand three years in jail, the company stated.
Followers face non secular restrictions
Islam is the official faith of Qatar — and anybody discovered to be proselytizing for different religions or criticizing Islam "could also be criminally prosecuted," the State Division stated, in a factsheet about Qatar for World Cup guests.
It is also not secure to imagine you possibly can apply your religion overtly: "Qatar permits some non-Muslim non secular apply in designated areas like Doha's Spiritual Advanced, however all faiths are usually not accommodated equally," the U.S. company stated.
Along with import restrictions on alcohol and pornography, "vacationers can't convey pork merchandise" into the nation, the State Division stated in a video about Qatar's legal guidelines.
Public speech can also be restricted
Speech that is deemed vital of the Qatari authorities might set off an arrest. These legal guidelines apply each to spoken phrases and social media.
And whereas previous World Cups have introduced a heaping of argy-bargy — scenes of rival crowds yelling and even singing obscenities at each other — open conflicts can convey massive issues in Qatar.
"For instance, arguing with or insulting others in public might result in arrest," the State Division advisory video said.
Intercourse and different social points
"Homosexuality is criminalized in Qatar," the State Division notes.
"Advocates say that LGBTQ individuals in Qatar are subjected to conversion remedy, harassment by authorities and imprisonment," as NPR's Becky Sullivan says in her rundown of controversies surrounding the host nation.
Such experiences have fueled outrage, and authorities can be beneath scrutiny for the way they deal with LGBTQ followers and symbols.
Guests to Qatar can even face harsh punishments for "indecent acts and the act of sexual activity exterior of marriage," the Library of Congress famous, citing Qatari regulation.
Recriminations vary from a high quality or six months' imprisonment for anybody discovered to have dedicated "immoral" actions or gestures in public to as much as seven years in jail for somebody having intercourse exterior of marriage. Public debauchery can even carry a sentence as much as three years in jail, in keeping with the Library of Congress.
If a pregnant fan goes to Qatar for the World Cup, they need to be ready to point out a wedding certificates in the event that they want prenatal care there, the State Division stated.
Followers might want to cowl up, regardless of the warmth
Qatar's oppressive warmth pressured the match to maneuver from the summer season to November and December — however followers who discover it sizzling there ought to restrict how a lot pores and skin they present.
Gown codes in lots of public areas require that "each women and men cowl shoulders, chests, stomachs, and knees, and that tight leggings be lined by a protracted shirt or gown," the State Division stated.
As with alcohol, clothes requirements typically shift in keeping with the diploma a neighborhood or venue caters to foreigners.
