Beer Was Banned At World Cup Stadiums Two Days Before The Opening Game—Here's Why
Anyone lucky enough to have tickets to the FIFA World Cup, which this month and next in Qatar, might want to sideline their dreams of sipping a cold brew at the
To the surprise of many, host country Qatar has announced that Budweiser, the official World Cup beer sponsor, cannot sell any alcoholic beverages within stadium perimeters. Food & Wine reports that the sale of Budweiser was initially set to take place at beer tents around the eight stadiums, but that decision was reversed. Budweiser will still be able to sell non-alcoholic offerings like Bud Zero.
According to a statement made on behalf of FIFA and the host country, there will be other options for purchasing alcohol; they just won't be inside the stadiums.
"Following decisions 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 Qatar's FIFA World Cup 2022 stadium perimeters," read the statement.
Likely taken aback by the news, Budweiser reportedly tweeted "Well, this is awkward," before deleting the tweet. Given that Budweiser's parent company AB InBev paid around $75 million to be the exclusive beer vendor at the World Cup, awkward is certainly one way to describe the fiasco.
The sale of alcohol is restricted in Qatar, and the long-running negotiations between the country and FIFA over selling beer at the games were allegedly fraught. As The AP reported, "Qatar, which is governed by a hereditary emir who has absolute say over all governmental decisions, follows an ultraconservative form of Islam known as Wahhabism like neighboring Saudi Arabia. [...] Islam forbids the consumption of alcohol, and several Muslim residents of Qatar cheered the decision on Friday, noting that visitors should respect the country’s customs."
There is one way of getting your hands on a beer while inside the stadium, but it's extremely costly: snag a seat inside a corporate hospitality suite. It'll only run you a little over $20,000 per match.
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