On November 21, Qatar will become the first Middle Eastern country to host the FIFA competition since it began in 1930.
The soccer fans roar and jump to their feet, their mouths ajar like laughing clowns at a fair. Team scarves fly; grown men cry.
Qatar is the first Middle Eastern country to host the World Cup since the event began in 1930. It’s also the first to kick it off in November, instead of June, to avoid the region’s extreme summer heat.Of the well-documented controversies that have followed Doha’s successful bid in 2010, one is that Qatar is not a ‘real’ soccer nation. Its team, according toDaniel Storey, was hot-housed into competitive shape at Doha’s sports development academy, Aspire.
Culturally, however Doha is not like Dubai, nor does it want to be, I hear often during my stay. “In order of the most to the least conservative Gulf countries, it goes: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain,” says my city guide, Maria Fernanda Iglesias, an expat of six years from Ecuador.
Seeing the skyline unspool as you drive along Al Majd highway, it’s easy to assume Doha is heading in Dubai’s direction. Both cities have allowed blatant architectural show-ponying, with buildings that beg for your love or hate. In Sydney, we’re still talking about Packer’s Crown Towers and Barangaroo years after they went up.
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