On Friday, Qatar prohibited the sale of alcohol in World Cup stadiums, reversing a pact struck by the strict Muslim emirate to secure the event with only two days before the first game.
The action was the latest example of the tensions surrounding the event, which is not only a sports tournament but also a month-long celebration in the authoritarian country where alcohol sales are severely limited. It’s also a huge setback for World Cup beer sponsor Budweiser, raising issues about FIFA’s authority over the competition.
Qatar agreed to FIFA’s conditions for selling alcohol in stadiums when it submitted its bid to host the World Cup. Still, the specifics were only disclosed in September, only 11 weeks before the first kickoff, indicating how difficult the discussions may have been. According to a FIFA statement issued on Friday, non-alcoholic beer will continue to be offered in the eight stadiums. At the same time, champagne, wine, whiskey, and other alcoholic beverages will be available in the venues’ VIP hospitality sections.
However, most ticket holders will not have access to those places; instead, they will be allowed to consume alcoholic drinks in the evenings at the FIFA Fan Festival, a dedicated party area with live music and entertainment. Outside the tournament zones, Qatar places severe restrictions on the purchase and use of alcohol, while hotel bars have been selling it for years.
“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, removing sales points of beer from … stadium perimeters,” FIFA said in a statement.
As the news broke, Budweiser’s Twitter account tweeted: “Well, this is awkward…” without elaborating. The tweet was later deleted.
Ab InBev, the parent company of Budweiser, acknowledged in a statement that some of its plans “cannot move forward due to circumstances beyond our control.”
The corporation spends tens of millions of dollars for exclusive rights to sell beer during each World Cup. It has already sent the majority of its stock from the United Kingdom to Qatar in anticipation of selling its product to millions of spectators. While tournament sales may not constitute a large portion of the enormous company’s income, the World Cup does provide a big branding opportunity.
The company’s connection with FIFA began with the 1986 event, and they are now in talks to prolong their agreement for the next World Cup in North America.
The move to prohibit alcohol sales in Qatari stadiums, according to Ronan Evain, executive director of the fan group Football Supporters Europe, is “extremely worrying.”
“For many fans, whether they don’t drink alcohol or are used to dry stadium policies at home, this is a detail. It won’t change their tournament,” Evain wrote on Twitter. “But with 48 (hours) to go, we’ve clearly entered a dangerous territory — where ‘assurances’ don’t matter anymore.”
Qatar, like neighboring Saudi Arabia, is controlled by a hereditary emir who has total authority over all governmental decisions. It adheres to an ultraconservative strain of Islam known as Wahhabism. Following a natural gas boom in the 1990s, Qatar has turned into an ultramodern metropolis in recent years, but it has faced internal pressure to remain faithful to its Islamic traditions and Bedouin roots. Alcohol drinking is prohibited in Islam.
Rights organizations have expressed worries over how the country would handle millions of international fans, some of whom may break Islamic prohibitions prohibiting public intoxication, sex outside of marriage, and homosexuality.
The Qatari government and its Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy did not reply to demands for comment right away.
The reversal on Friday was not Qatar’s first, but it was the most dramatic. Last weekend, AB InBev was taken aback by a new restriction imposed by Qatari organizers that required beer vendors to be relocated to less conspicuous areas within the stadium grounds.
In addition, Qatar changed the date of the first match just weeks before the World Cup began.
Previous World Cup hosts were expected to make sacrifices. Brazil was compelled to modify a rule to allow alcohol sales in stadiums for the 2014 World Cup, but the same cultural problems were not at stake.
After Qatar was chosen as the host country, AB InBev’s contract with FIFA was extended in 2011. However, the Belgian-based brewer has recently encountered confusion over where it may serve and sell beer in Qatar. Some have also objected to the price, which has been confirmed at $14 for a drink.
Workers at the W Hotel in Doha, where the firm will be housed, continued to assemble a Budweiser-themed bar. The hotel’s renowned AB logo was plastered across columns and walls, with one saying, “The World Is Yours To Take.”