Qatar will restrict the availability of alcohol during the 2022 World Cup “whatever the criticism might be”, if drinking increases violence at games, according to an official.
The Gulf state, which is hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022, has been working with Euro 2016 organisers to study links between alcohol and violence among fans.
France decided to impose a ban on alcohol sales near European Championship venues following several outbreaks of football-related violence during the competition in June.
More than 60 members of Qatar’s World Cup organising committee shadowed Euro 2016 organisers and concluded that the disorder and “hooliganism” in Marseilles would influence the 2022 alcohol policy, Associated Press reported.
Assistant secretary-general Nasser Al Khater told AP in Rio last week that the committee wants to ensure a “violence-free” World Cup in Doha.
He was quoted as saying: “The strange thing we saw, as soon as some of the violence picked up in France, the first thing people spoke about was banning alcohol around the stadiums 24 or 48 hours before the match and during the match.
“So that means there is a recognition that sometimes alcohol could relate to or encourage some sort of violence.
“We need to take that into consideration to make sure the balance we strike is right. We want to make sure that Qatar in 2022 will be a violence-free World Cup.”
Preventing outbreaks of violence is a key concern for Qatar 2022 organisers, Al Khater added. “The issues that have been plaguing or dominating the headlines are violence so this is something we are taking a look at.
“After what happened in France, there needs to be a review of all security measures.”
It had been presumed alcohol would be more freely available in Qatar during the World Cup, but Al Khater insisted the Gulf state would implement whatever restrictions it believes are necessary – “whatever the criticism might be”, according to AP.
World Cup committee secretary-general Hassan Al Thawadi said in February: “In relation to drunk fans, [the rule] will be as it is anywhere else.
“Anyone who is rowdy, anyone who breaches the law, will be very gently – depending on how they react – taken care of in a manner to make sure that people are not disrupting the public order.”
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