International Football
Soccer fans could face accommodation shortage at Qatar’s World Cup
- Qatar aims to attract 1.2 million fans to World Cup
- Organisers expect to offer up to 130,000 rooms
- Not all hotel rooms available for fans
- Desert “fan villages” under consideration
On the outskirts of Doha, low-rise apartment blocks are starting to take shape that will house many of the soccer fans due to descend on the Qatari capital next year for the World Cup 2022.
Qatar, which has been in the spotlight for its treatment of migrant workers on construction sites, hopes the tournament will attract 1.2 million visitors, roughly a third of its population.
But organisers told Reuters they expect to be able to offer up to 130,000 rooms, including hotels, which could leave thousands of fans scrambling for accommodation when matches start next November.
And those hoping for city views may be disappointed. The Madinatna complex, capable of housing up to 27,000 fans sharing apartments, is surrounded by an 18-lane expressway and a stark expanse of desert 25 kms (15 miles) from Doha’s centre.
Organisers have announced only partial details about how and where they plan to find 130,000 rooms, saying the total stock of hotel rooms would be announced “in due course.
“It’s really frustrating when the host country makes promises about available and affordable accommodation, and then we get closer to a tournament and we see a shortage,” said Ronan Evian, executive director of Football Supporters Europe, a network of European soccer fans.
Qatar will have fewer than 50,000 hotel rooms ready by next November, according to estimates by Qatar Tourism, a government body that sets strategy and regulates tourism. And not all hotel rooms will be available to fans as many have been reserved for players and FIFA officials, hotel sources said.
Two cruise ships, one still under construction in France, and shared villas and apartments, including those at Madinatna, would provide at least another 64,000 rooms, most of them to be managed by Accor (ACCP.PA), Europe’s largest hotel operator.
A construction frenzy continues at the site of Madinatna (Our City), due to be completed in spring, and at more than two dozen hotel sites.
Authorities have banned all hotels from accepting individual reservations starting November until the tournament’s conclusion on Dec. 23, according to a circular issued earlier this year.
Instead, Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy will handle sales of nearly all accommodation options in Qatar. The government has capped hotel rates specifically for the World Cup, but rates for other accommodation have not yet been set.
World Cup rates for all but two- and three-star hotels look set to exceed the most recently published average nightly room rate of 438 riyals ($120).
The scramble to secure accommodation has seen some furnished apartments and villas rented only to tenants agreeing to short-term leases. A rental agent at the Grand Hyatt’s furnished villas, for example, said all new leases must end in March 2022.
It has driven up rental prices, which had been declining for years. Asking prices for apartments and villas have recently increased by 5-10%, said a recent real estate market review by Cushman and Wakefield.
GETTING CREATIVE
Qatar, the first Middle Eastern nation to host the event, is already under media scrutiny over the plight of migrant workers, who along with other foreigners comprise the bulk of the population.
It introduced a series of labour reforms in the last year that have boosted the minimum wage and rules authorities say are designed to protect workers from heat stress.
Previous World Cups have been held across multiple cities in large countries like Brazil or Russia, but Qatar is roughly the size of Jamaica and its eight World Cup stadiums are clustered around its only major city, Doha.
A spokesperson for the Supreme Committee said in a statement to Reuters that they will be “utilising every available accommodation option” in the country.
One proposal has been desert “fan villages” that house visitors in bedouin-style tents or out under the stars in the Gulf’s mild autumn.
The Supreme Committee spokesperson said that concept was still being finalised. It was not immediately clear how sewage, water and food at desert villages would be handled.
Qatar Tourism has launched a “holiday home” scheme allowing people in Doha to apply for licences to rent out their homes on platforms like AirBnB or VRBO.
Organisers marketed a “Host a Fan” campaign ahead of the FIFA Arab Cup in Doha this December, which will serve as a test of Qatar’s preparedness for next year.
But the call for Qataris to open their homes has raised eyebrows among some in the conservative Muslim country and organisers have not said how many homes have signed up.
If these schemes do not pan out, fans may choose to commute from other Gulf Arab states, especially after a row between some of them and Qatar was resolved in January, allowing flights to resume between Doha and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Work is also underway to expand Qatar’s main airport and reopen an old airport, allowing more flights from nearby cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE or the Omani capital Muscat.
NO WHITE ELEPHANTS
World Cup officials played down the prospect of an accommodation shortfall and said Qatar was building only what its market needed and avoiding “white elephants”.
“We don’t want to start building a lot of hotels, then after the tournament when the peak drops, there is not going to be any (utilization of the hotels),” said Fatma Al-Nuaimi, a spokesperson for the 2022 organising committee.
Aside from soccer stadiums, Qatar has not specified legacy plans for what will happen to World Cup infrastructure after the tournament.
Complexes like Madinatna, which alone brings 6,780 new apartments to market, could risk a supply glut in a property market that has previously been hit by the Gulf row that saw Saudi Arabia and its allies impose an embargo in mid-2017.
“After the World Cup, we expect rents to reduce again and supply that had been tied up for the event will be filtered back into the market,” Cushman and Wakefield head of research Johnny Archer told Reuters.
-Reuters
International Football
Players’ union, FIFPRO, wants 20-minute halftimes, more cooling breaks amid extreme heat
Global players’ union FIFPRO is exploring whether extending halftime to 20 minutes and introducing more frequent cooling breaks could better protect players from extreme heat.
Nine of the 16 host cities for the 2026 World Cup face conditions considered “extreme risk” for heat-related illness.
Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Guadalajara, Houston, Kansas City, Miami, Monterrey and Philadelphia are expected to face dangerous levels of heat and humidity, posing player safety concerns and fuelling calls for mandatory cooling aids or schedule changes.
FIFPRO’s heat risk assessments are based on wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), a measure combining temperature, humidity, solar radiation and wind speed to estimate how environmental conditions affect the body’s ability to cool itself.
Under FIFPRO guidelines, a WBGT reading above 28 degrees Celsius indicates conditions in which matches should be postponed or rescheduled to protect players’ health.
By comparison, world soccer governing body FIFA’s own guidelines set the extreme risk threshold higher, at 32 degrees Celsius WBGT – but even by that standard, six of the nine cities are still projected to exceed safe limits.
Major League Soccer in the U.S. has a threshold of 29 degrees Celsius WBGT.
“Cooling breaks at the 30th minute and 75th minutes are quite traditional, but from a physiological point of view it does not make sense,” said Vincent Gouttebarge, FIFPRO’s Medical Director.
“Even if you ingest more than 200 millilitres of fluid, you already cannot take it all. So I would definitely like to see some project where we look at the efficacy of perhaps more frequent but shorter cooling breaks – every 15 minutes, rather than only one during each half.”
LONGER HALFTIMES
Gouttebarge also questioned whether the traditional 15-minute halftime interval is sufficient when matches are played in extreme heat.
“You can imagine that halftime of 15 minutes might not be enough in order to decrease the core temperature,” he said.
“It could be a halftime of 20 minutes which would be significant. That has been shown in the laboratory and FIFPRO, together with the national union in Portugal in August, we are going to test this kind of mitigation strategy.”
The urgency of stronger heat protocols became clear at this month’s Club World Cup where two matches — Benfica-Bayern Munich in Charlotte and Chelsea-Esperance in Philadelphia exceeded the WBGT threshold FIFPRO considers unsafe.
“According to our position, those games should have been postponed later that day or rescheduled,” Gouttebarge said.
FIFPRO officials acknowledged that FIFA has responded constructively during the tournament by lowering thresholds for mandatory cooling breaks and improving pitch-side hydration, but stressed that proactive planning is critical.
“FIFA have been quite responsive once the tournament was under way,” said Alex Phillips, FIFPRO General Secretary.
“They have actually modified how they’ve been dealing with heat during the matches based on FIFPRO’s input, which is credit to the work of the team. Obviously, it would have been better if that happened in advance, but it’s better that they have adapted.”
FIFPRO warned that the risks highlighted at the Club World Cup are a preview of what players could face at the expanded 2026 World Cup.
“This is not just affecting the Club World Cup, but also future tournaments either in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world,” said Alexander Bielefeld, FIFPRO Director of Policy & Strategic Relations.
“We need a better balance between commercial interests and the health and safety of players,” he added, referring to earlier kick-off times to accommodate European television audiences.
-Reuters
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Former Manchester United and England midfielder Paul Ince has been charged with drink-driving, police said on Monday.
Ince, who earned 53 caps for England and won two Premier League titles during his six years at United, has been released on bail and will appear in court on July 18.
“The incident involved a black Range Rover which had collided with the central reservation barrier. Officers attended the scene and arrested a 57-year-old man,” the Cheshire police said in a statement.
“Paul Ince, of Quarry Road, Neston, has since been charged with drink-driving.”
Reuters has contacted Ince’s representative for comment.
After retiring as a player, Ince led Milton Keynes Dons to a League Two title in 2007-08. He most recently managed Reading during 2022-23.
-Reuters
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International Football
From garbage collector to Starman of Ancelotti’s Brazil team: the story of Ribeiro
“I was without a team for a year and a half, doing trials… and no club in Brazil wanted me.!” Alex Ribeiro
Alexsandro Victor de Souza Ribeiro (Rio de Janeiro, 1999) was, until a few days ago, a semi-unknown to the general public in Brazil.
However, Carlo Ancelotti, impressed by his strong performance against Real Madrid in the Champions League, insisted on calling up the Lille centre-back… and giving him his debut.
Not only that. He started alongside Marquinhos against Ecuador (0-0) and Paraguay (1-0) and helped the Seleçao keep two consecutive clean sheets for the first time in the qualifying rounds.
Alex, as he likes to be called, impressed with his 1.92 meters (6′ 1″) frame and confidence. According to ‘R10Score’, he was the Brazilian player who completed the most actions with the ball (186) and the second with the most cuts (11).
He completed 154 of the 166 passes he made (92% accuracy) and won 12 of the 16 duels he was involved in: 5 of 7 at ground level and 7 of 9 in the air. “A gentleman defender,” boasted the official Ligue 1 Portuguese account.
His path to the elite wasn’t easy. “I don’t think you know this, but this is my first game as a professional in Brazil. Strange, isn’t it? There’s nothing better. To debut in Brazil like this, with a win and qualification,” he boasted after defeating Paraguay.
These first few days with Ancelotti have been unique; I’ll remember them for the rest of my life. I’ve responded well not only to myself, but also to the coach and the Brazilian people. I was able to demonstrate my ability to those who had doubts. Few people give me the opportunity that the manager has given me,” he insists
The Lille centre-back took his first steps in Flamengo’s youth system, where he even met Vinicius.
“When we played against Real Madrid, Vini came up to me and hugged me. He said, ‘I’m glad to see you here, brother.’ That inspired and motivated me even more,” he told ‘Globo Esporte’.
‘Fla’ cut him off. He had to make a living as a street vendor. He also collected trash, especially cans. “I was without a team for a year and a half, doing trials… and no club in Brazil wanted me, so I went to Europe to play in Portugal’s Third Division.”
Praiense (2018-20), Amora (2020-21), and Chaves (2021-22)—the latter already in the Second Division—were his springboard to Lille. The Bulldogs signed him in 2022-23 for €2 million. He has become a more than worthy successor to his compatriot Gabriel Magalhaes.
“Little by little, my name is spreading. My football is reaching everywhere. This includes Brazil,” he said before making his debut with the Seleçao. Now that he’s made it, he has another challenge: “I want to continue it.”
-Marca
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