2022 World Cup Qatar thread

RobinLFC

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only they return for boxing day (while Bundesliga takes a break until late January) - just a world cup casually slotted in without any kind of break.
Unbelievable :lol: Them English people and "tradition"
 

kthanksbye

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The lack of mention of Spain confuses me, I think they have a strong chance of wining the tournament.
 

kthanksbye

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I would be stunned if the majority of group games are played without half the tickets not being sold.
Fifa and Qatar are going to have to dig deep to skew these figures and fill seats.

Europe and South America may not be the world but they take up the majority of tickets at these world cups. Viewership will still be high but I think they’ll struggle with attendances for a lot of group games.
I can’t see hundreds of thousands of European and American fans flocking to the Middle East during Christmas to pay extortionate prices to watch the World Cup.
I live in the UAE it will be convenient for me to fly next door and watch a few matches, I also applied for tickets in the first round but didn't make the draw, selling tickets doesn't seem like a problem.
 

adexkola

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If you look at the grand prix and Motogp held in Saudi,Qatar, Abu Dhabi etc it's always full of westerners.

This will be no different.
They are different sports :confused:

That's like me saying an NFL game in Abu Dhabi will be full of mostly Americans. Yeah, no shit

In regards to sales, almost every World Cup outside Europe/The US gets labelled as a WC that won't sell it's tickets and/or it will be a logistical disaster.
Without fail.

South Africa, Brazil, and Russia worked out pretty well.
 

kthanksbye

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Neither India or Pakistan are in the WC.

Americans, brazilians, mexicans, germans, australians, and argentinians are most of the times the ones who buy close to 70-80% of the tickets in World Cups.

Indians aren't gonna fill that void, their team isn't there, and cricket is the biggest sport in India, this WC might be the exception due to Qatar having a lot of indian workers.

Why do you encapsulate westernness as a thing? We are talking about football and tickets, not american cliches.
https://www.dohanews.co/which-countries-have-applied-for-most-world-cup-tickets-so-far/

Fans in the host country represented the biggest contingent of those who rushed to the website to request early-bird tickets, followed closely by Argentina, Mexico, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, England, India, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and France.
 

Utd heap

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Qatar Airways was running promotions on the last flight I took with them, regarding WC packages.

I'm not sure why the assumption is that there will be no interest for this tournament from Western countries. It's a World Cup.
Ofcourse there will be a huge interest but the numbers travelling will be MILES down. I don't know anyone even considering going.

I've never said that before for any tournament in my lifetime.

*Only talking from an England perspective here BTW.
 

kthanksbye

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Indians and Pakistanis may have a different sporting culture but in terms of Arabs, we’re obsessed with football and I’ve always found it hilarious when people claim that we aren’t.

About 85% of my mates, including myself, already have their ticket packages and are flying over from neighbouring countries. Ticket quotas for most of the Middle Eastern countries have already been filled.
Every Indian I know who watches football is making arrangements to fly to Qatar to watch the worldcup, they're not even bothered about which teams they'll get to watch, those who cannot afford it, have been saving for the trip since 3 years now.
 

RobinLFC

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Will there be beer at the stadiums? Can you show signs of intoxication after games, or in general? I thought it was forbidden but not sure if it's one rule for the Qatari people and another one for tourists, especially with a global event like the WC. Aren't Heineken and Budweiser sponsors?
 

kthanksbye

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The demographic might be different but there is no way the stadiums are going to be empty, even for group stage games. Apart from watching the nation you're from or watching the country you support, there are loads of football fans who just want to watch a worldcup game in the stadium, regardless of their nationality and which teams are playing.
 

MDFC Manager

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People were saying similar about the WC in Brazil and look how that 1 7urned out. Teams will emulate the conditions of the tournament when they pick the place for their training camp, it shouldn't be a big deal.
I see what you did there
 

MDFC Manager

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Every Indian I know who watches football is making arrangements to fly to Qatar to watch the worldcup, they're not even bothered about which teams they'll get to watch, those who cannot afford it, have been saving for the trip since 3 years now.
This is true I think. For most of us, it's going to be the most accessible and easily reachable world Cup in our lifetimes. The actual number that's going to make it down there will be interesting to see but the interest is certainly high.
 

Ramos

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Bookies top 10 favorites right now:

Brazil
France
England
Spain
Germany
Argentina
Belgium
Portugal
Netherlands
Denmark
 

Wolf1992

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Bookies top 10 favorites right now:

Brazil
France
England
Spain
Germany
Argentina
Belgium
Portugal
Netherlands
Denmark
This must be the most even WC ever.

There isn't a single big team that look above the rest in terms of performance, unlike old school World Cups.
 

RobinLFC

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This is true I think. For most of us, it's going to be the most accessible and easily reachable world Cup in our lifetimes. The actual number that's going to make it down there will be interesting to see but the interest is certainly high.
Surely just a matter of time before China gets one?
 

carvajal

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The lack of mention of Spain confuses me, I think they have a strong chance of wining the tournament.
We will continue to have the ball and surely for that reason it will be difficult to beat us. They can create a quick attack with Ferrán, Yeremi Pino, Olmo, etc. but we continue with Morata, with the unknown of Ansu Fati's recovery.
As previously mentioned, to win you usually need an elite striker and we don't have anything similar to Torres or Villa
 

Dave Smith

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Surely just a matter of time before China gets one?
34 or 38. 2030 will most likely be Spain/Portugal as Fifa haven't ever gone more than 2 tournements away from Europe and it is still footballs biggest market.

After that, it'll be a Non-Europe tournament for the next two and I imagine China will get one and then a African/South American will get the other one.
 

Sarni

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Everyone will want to get Qatar from Pot 1 badly, such a massive difference in quality between them and basically every other team in first two pots. From Poland POV getting them is probably our only chance of actually having a shot at progressing past the group stages (which we haven’t done in the World Cup for 36 years).

I still find it hard to get excited for a World Cup that serves as a mid season tournament. Usually I’d associate World Cup with Summer, warm weather, barbecue, long days. To have it accommodated in the middle of the most grim period of the year feels just wrong (I’m aware for people on the other side of the globe it will be opposite but even then the experience for them will be opposite of what it has always been). Luckily because they moved Euro by a year we will only go 3 years without Summer tournament as opposed to 4.
 

General_Elegancia

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This must be the most even WC ever.

There isn't a single big team that look above the rest in terms of performance, unlike old school World Cups.
I agree with you and I really like it. I hope that 2022 World Cup is going to be “one of the most competitive World Cup” in the history of World Cup. It reminds me a bit of 1982 esque.

Three big-teams that have impressed me and have a chance to win it are Argentina, Germany and France. Argentina has very strong system and very tactical team especially Scaloni’s tactic, some quality players and Messi last chance will be a great fuel to this team. Flick’s Germany is an attacking-force with some fervid fire. Unfortunately, their quality of target strikers aren’t in top class. Their quality of midfielders and defenders( including goalkeeper) are also impressive too. Imho, France is the most stacked team of this cup for me and having some of the best players in the world in their positions like Mbappe, Kante, Maignan(top10 gk for sure) and some experience players like Pogba and Varane.

Dark horses for me are Spain, Brazil, Holland and Portugal. It seems interesting that all of them include Denmark have a chance to win it. Superiority in term of squad couldn’t guarantee the trophy too.
 
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General_Elegancia

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We will continue to have the ball and surely for that reason it will be difficult to beat us. They can create a quick attack with Ferrán, Yeremi Pino, Olmo, etc. but we continue with Morata, with the unknown of Ansu Fati's recovery.
As previously mentioned, to win you usually need an elite striker and we don't have anything similar to Torres or Villa
Spanish midfielders are the best in the world in term of solving problems from aggressive pressing and counter pressing. They are the master at it. Watching them play are similar to watching the ascension of beauty queen. I think they have a chance too, since they have showed me great performances against an Italian team, a team with a lot of details similar to Spain and their midfielders were really quality. They dominated the game for almost 80 minutes in Euro2021. In second leg during Nations League they dominated them again too. In a match versus France, they also played better football especially passing qualities.


Outside of not having top strikers, I really see Spain have a problem against counter-attack. Chiesa and Mbappe scored against Spain in the same way and it’s called counter-attack.
Spain backline( including dm) hasn’t organized well when it comes to defending against speedy-attackers.
 
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Ludens the Red

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This post is a good specimen of western cluelessness with regards to the rest of the world. Why do you assume Indians or Pakistanis cannot buy tickets?
I mean a few have a reputed already but you must know interest in football in Pakistan and India isnt particularly high enough to the point they’d be travelling to Qatar to see other countries play football games.

I live in the UAE it will be convenient for me to fly next door and watch a few matches, I also applied for tickets in the first round but didn't make the draw, selling tickets doesn't seem like a problem.
Be interesting to see how many seats are actually filled … but can’t see how. Previous world cups in Korea and South Africa have had decent amounts of empty seating. Qatar being full up …. Not ao sure
 

Luke1995

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France and Spain are the favorites for me.

Brazil and Argentina right behind. (Unless the south american qualifiers are very misleading in regards to their real quality)
 

FootballHQ

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In regards to sales, almost every World Cup outside Europe/The US gets labelled as a WC that won't sell it's tickets and/or it will be a logistical disaster.
I can actually remember Korea/Japan had loads of empty seats, started off with the opener between France/Senegal which was 5k off capacity and many matches didn't sell out, even knockout rounds.

Since then it's been held in most established football countries like Germany and Brazil. Think South Africa may have had some games struggling to sell out.

I assume with the close proximity of venues and a few of them being around 40k they'll be creative and get fans watching 2-3 games on one day if there's a couple of "unattractive" fixtures on in group stages and even last 16 ties.
 

FootballHQ

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Unbelievable :lol: Them English people and "tradition"
Yeah next season will feel as disjointed as BCD season imo. I assumed as there's always an international break in mid November they'd just use that to play a friendly or two and give teams two week prep (which is same for international teams that have players in domestic cup finals and CL final in normal years).

And going straight back into xmas schedule in prem does feel ridiculous for players of NT teams who come up just short. Probably the African players are best equipped for this as they're used to coming back into games after playing AFCON mid season.

Think league teams who have few players at this world cup can basically have a mini pre season and they could really come out flying and catch some of the top teams off guard so will be some abnormal league results next season I reckon.

I presume leagues like Germany will just bring forward their winter break and resume mid January which seems more logical.
 

FootballHQ

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The lack of mention of Spain confuses me, I think they have a strong chance of wining the tournament.
Yeah same for me. Wasn't totally convinced by them in the euros but ultimately they fell just short of the final and since then you've had Gavi joining Pedri so reviving Barca strong spine of the 2010s with Ferran Torres looking good aswell.

Certainly a stronger european contender than Germany or Belgium imo.
 

432JuanMata

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Yeah same for me. Wasn't totally convinced by them in the euros but ultimately they fell just short of the final and since then you've had Gavi joining Pedri so reviving Barca strong spine of the 2010s with Ferran Torres looking good aswell.

Certainly a stronger european contender than Germany or Belgium imo.
Spain are being underrated and I agree that they look better contenders than Germany but you can always rely on Germany to do well they are just efficient.
France and England I would put ahead of the rest in Europe but I can never back England as I just don’t rate Southgate
 

FootballHQ

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Spain are being underrated and I agree that they look better contenders than Germany but you can always rely on Germany to do well they are just efficient.
France and England I would put ahead of the rest in Europe but I can never back England as I just don’t rate Southgate
Germany coming in on the back of two abysmal tournaments and will be second seeds so even getting out of the group may not be straightforward. That said I presume they look a coherent team again under Flick at least?

Home euros in 2024 feels the ideal time for a reboot as was the case in 2006.
 

Charrockero

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Will there be beer at the stadiums? Can you show signs of intoxication after games, or in general? I thought it was forbidden but not sure if it's one rule for the Qatari people and another one for tourists, especially with a global event like the WC. Aren't Heineken and Budweiser sponsors?
I have heard they will allow alcohol consumption. I just don't know what degree of intoxication the authorities will tolerate. I was in Russia in 2018 and people were drunk almost all day everywhere .

Actually, I'm more worried about gay people and flirting. For the first, I heard "public expressions of gay love" will not be tolerated. I wonder what they mean about that? What kind of penalties will people face for such behavior?... And as for flirting, I don't know if tourists will be allowed to kiss and hold hands, or to even to so with any girls they meet in the WC.

In 2015 when I was living in Netherlands I dated for some time a Lebanese girl. She seemed very ordinary and had no problems with intimacy, if you know what I mean. But I know that Law in these countries they have different opinions as to what's OK or not, including consent. Would be interesting to read anybody here who knows about it.
 

Mshafeek

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Not the same football culture and do they travel to see Denmark vs. Canada?
Neither India or Pakistan are in the WC.

Americans, brazilians, mexicans, germans, australians, and argentinians are most of the times the ones who buy close to 70-80% of the tickets in World Cups.

Indians aren't gonna fill that void, their team isn't there, and cricket is the biggest sport in India, this WC might be the exception due to Qatar having a lot of indian workers.

Why do you encapsulate westernness as a thing? We are talking about football and tickets, not american cliches.
I don’t think there was an assumption at all or any sort of ignorance. The fact is most attending fans will be there to support their country. As someone with football mad relatives throughout India, I’d be surprised if any of them end up going to Qatar for the matches. There would be of course a portion of die hard European or South American football fans from India/Pakistan but they would I assume be in the minority.

Football may be a global sport but interest levels aren’t necessarily consistent across the globe for varying reasons.
I mean a few have a reputed already but you must know interest in football in Pakistan and India isnt particularly high enough to the point they’d be travelling to Qatar to see other countries play football games.



Be interesting to see how many seats are actually filled … but can’t see how. Previous world cups in Korea and South Africa have had decent amounts of empty seating. Qatar being full up …. Not ao sure
Subsequent posts have demonstrated the cluelessness I was implying - the assumption that Indians/Pakistanis etc are not 'interested enough' in football or would simply ignore a WC no less if 'their team' is not playing! Or are probably not capable enough to purchase tickets? Its absurd. By volume, India probably has more football fans than most european countries. For comparison , the final of the Indian Super League has viewership figures in the range of 40-50 million , which is probably many times over of what the FA cup final might be getting.
This WC is the most accessible WC ever to some of the most populated countries on the planet. It would have filled stadia even if a single westerner would not attend.
 

DRJosh

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Subsequent posts have demonstrated the cluelessness I was implying - the assumption that Indians/Pakistanis etc are not 'interested enough' in football or would simply ignore a WC no less if 'their team' is not playing! Or are probably not capable enough to purchase tickets? Its absurd. By volume, India probably has more football fans than most european countries. For comparison , the final of the Indian Super League has viewership figures in the range of 40-50 million , which is probably many times over of what the FA cup final might be getting.
This WC is the most accessible WC ever to some of the most populated countries on the planet. It would have filled stadia even if a single westerner would not attend.
Well, time will tell if the stadiums as you say, will be filled with Indians and Pakistanis.

There is no doubt that these countries have a large football following and that there will be a strong contingent of them at the WC but it takes more than a single cultural indicator to determine if they will be the majority.
 

Ludens the Red

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Subsequent posts have demonstrated the cluelessness I was implying - the assumption that Indians/Pakistanis etc are not 'interested enough' in football or would simply ignore a WC no less if 'their team' is not playing! Or are probably not capable enough to purchase tickets? Its absurd. By volume, India probably has more football fans than most european countries. For comparison , the final of the Indian Super League has viewership figures in the range of 40-50 million , which is probably many times over of what the FA cup final might be getting.
This WC is the most accessible WC ever to some of the most populated countries on the planet. It would have filled stadia even if a single westerner would not attend.
Okay mate. India and Pakistan will have thousands flocking to see the World Cup in Qatar despite their teams not being involved.
We are all stupid, clueless and ignorant for thinking otherwise.
It is clear that a group game between for example, Poland vs Saudi Arabia will peak the interest of thousands of football fans in India and Pakistan.
 

do.ob

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That post made me check out the attendance figures of ISL and according to Wikipedia the last pre covid season had a mean attendance of 13k with a peak attendance of 45k.

This year's final was played in a 19k capacity stadium, but only sold 11k tickets.
 

RoyH1

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The USA and Mexico have secured their qualification some hours ago. That's a lot of fans that will travel
 

GuybrushThreepwood

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The USA and Mexico have secured their qualification some hours ago. That's a lot of fans that will travel
Mexican fans living in the USA in-particular are surely among the most passionate and diehard international fans anywhere in the world. Before COVID, their ability to continually fill huge NFL stadiums in the USA for the rinse and repeat friendlies against Ecuador, Paraguay, New Zealand etc. was very impressive. From what I gather, it's not like the tickets were particularly cheap either.
 

Hastar

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I won't speak for Pakistanis, but as an Indian I can tell that there would be quite a decent number of Indians willing to make the trip. There is a massive football fanbase here now, and even a decent number of Indians working in and around Qatar - your well paid engineers, architects, doctors, etc and not the poor labourers.

However, saying things like people from the subcontinent would fill the stadiums is absurd.

The majority of the crowd will be of fans of the teams competing in the World Cup.
 

Ramos

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Official now.

Pot 1: Qatar, Brazil, Belgium, France, Argentina, England, Spain, Portugal.

Pot 2: Mexico, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Uruguay, Switzerland, USA, Croatia.

Pot 3: Senegal, Iran, Japan, Morocco, Serbia, Poland, South Korea, Tunisia.

Pot 4: Cameroon, Canada, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, (Wales/Scotland/Ukraine), (Costa Rica/New Zealand), (Peru/UAE/Australia).