The 2022 World Cup is effectively and actually underway in Qatar, with followers having fun with the thrilling soccer and unbelievable ends in Doha.
- Critics with open minds shifting their stance on Qatar
WHAT HAPPENED? Fatma Al Nuaimi, Communications Govt Director at Supreme Committee for Supply & Legacy (SC), has lambasted critics who’ve termed the World Cup “plastic” and in addition claimed that lots of the native followers in Doha had been faux and paid followers.
She went on to spotlight that each World Cup host nation has confronted its share of criticism and it has been the identical with Qatar. Nonetheless, she felt that by the point the World Cup ends, the critics will shift their stances.
Al Nuaimi additionally highlighted how the ambiance in Doha is electrical with World Cup fever raging all through the town. She additionally felt that followers have realised what a singular alternative the 2022 World Cup has supplied by way of watching a number of matches on the identical day.
WHAT WAS SAID: “I believe each nation which is staging a worldwide occasion does get its share of criticism. Even Olympic hosts get scrutinised and criticised. We will see a number of the criticism is constructive and we will make it higher. However a few of it’s unfair. We attempt to not concentrate on distractions and attempt to ship the match in the easiest way for everybody,” she instructed GOAL.
“At the moment, that is the place we’re. The match is going on and persons are having fun with the World Cup. There are critics who got here right here and have began to shift their tone and alter their minds. By the top of the match, we hope that individuals will even have an open thoughts on the subject of this World Cup.”
WHAT DID SHE SAY ON FAKE FANS? Al Nuaimi additionally mentioned that there’s a false impression that as a result of a number of Asian followers help robust groups within the World Cup, they’re being painted as faux and paid followers, which isn’t the case.
She went on to lambast these insinuating that such followers are usually not real followers of soccer.
“When the World Cup was hosted in Brazil, you discovered a number of South American folks within the stands. It was due to geographical proximity. Whereas, if the match is in Europe then you will see that the hype and followers coming from Europe. Right here within the Arab world, you will see that lots of people from the Center East or from Asia. If the World Cup is going on in your neighbouring nation, folks will come. And the “paid followers” criticism, I imply, like, it reveals some sense of racism.
“On the finish of the day, soccer is common. It’s regular for lots of people that you’d have a global group that you simply love and worldwide gamers that you simply comply with. A couple of journalists truly began interviewing these followers, and so they had been stunned that individuals named each participant of their favorite group. Each nation on this planet would have a inhabitants composed of individuals from totally different nationalities. You’ll all the time have, for instance, a neighborhood group that you simply help, however you’ll all the time have a global group and soccer is world and common.
“The truth that folks declare that they’re paid followers is unacceptable and reveals racism.”
WHAT’S MORE: Al Nuaimi additionally mentioned that followers have realised after coming to Doha that it’s fairly simple to look at a number of video games on the identical day, given all of the stadiums are inside an hour’s distance of one another.
“What a number of followers have truly mentioned, to a number of us, is that it is (Qatar) not like how they’ve been studying and listening to. They mentioned, like, we want that we knew, we might have deliberate it higher, or we might have truly stayed extra. They really mentioned that they by no means understood the compact nature of the World Cup. They mentioned we may have deliberate to go to extra video games, however we did not know that we may truly purchase tickets. I want a number of media had targeted on info that may have helped the followers and their expertise in the best way they plan and luxuriate in their World Cup that might be occurring for the primary time within the area.”
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Getty Photos.Getty Photos
WHAT NEXT? The 2022 World Cup is barely a begin, as per Fatma Al Nuaimi. She highlighted the truth that the nation will host the 2023 Asian Cup, 2030 Asian Video games and might be on the System 1 calendar for the following 10 years. Qatar has already established themselves as a regional and worldwide sporting hub, she said.