Things aren’t off to a great start at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar for fans staying in the some of the Fan Villages. The accommodations are giving off some real Fyre Festival vibes, with unfinished tents with just mattresses and no bed coverings.
The Twitter account World Cup Updates shared a video from a Snapchat user purportedly in a fan village. The video shows a number of white tents with flags from different countries in what looks like an industrial area. Inside the tent, there were just two mattresses covered in plastic and a shelf between them. Nothing else.
The original poster of the video, #GoFundMeSpenceBud, wrote “I feel bad for those staying in these tents. It’s gonna be hot AF, and if there is a sand storm u can kiss those tents goodbye.”
They also shared a video of the bathroom and sink situations. They don’t look much better. The source of the video is a snapchat user named ADEL.
The video has been viewed almost 1 million times as of this writing.
The accommodations are apparently $100 a night and far away from the city. Qatar has nicer fan villages which cost a little more and which organizers showed to the press last week.
The World Cup rollout for Qatar has so far not been the celebratory fun experience people have come to expect from the event. First, there’s the number of deaths over the years from construction work of migrant workers. The Guardian puts the number at 6,500, calling that number probably an underestimation.
Then there are the boycotts. So far, only the K-Pop star Jung Kook is performing at the ceremony. Robbie Williams is playing the Doha Golf Club in December and he’s facing a huge backlash, so who knows if he’ll drop out or not.
Stars like Dua Lipa have declined, citing human rights abuses.
“I will be cheering England on from afar and I look forward to visiting Qatar when it has fulfilled all the human rights pledges it made when it won the right to host the World Cup,” she said in an Instagram story. Singer Rod Stewart said he was offered a million dollars to perform but declined.
Another issue is how the country views gay people. Earlier this month, Khalid Salman — a 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup Ambassador — called being gay “damage in the mind” and said it was “haram,” an Arabic word for forbidden. There are laws in the country that criminalize same-sex pairings, and transgender women have been forced to go through conversion therapy at government facilities.
All of this, in conjunction with the terrible living conditions for lower-tiered fans, are not a good way to start something that’s supposed to bring joy and unity. We’ll keep you posted on this one.
