Beer Now Completely Banned In One Surprising Place
Qatar, the country hosting this year's FIFA World Cup, has implemented an unexpected beer ban just prior to the event's start.
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Beer will now be banned during an event where the beverage has been traditionally available for over 90 years. According to both CNBC and NPR, Qatar, an oil-rich Islamic country, put in place a beer ban, at the FIFA World Cup. The sale of beer is prohibited at the stadiums and surrounding areas.
In fact, you can only drink in very specific areas of the country during this time. In Qatar, its citizens follow a conservative form of Islam known as Wahhabism. In light of this, only restaurants and hotels that have special licenses are allowed to sell alcohol.
However, even though a beer ban has been set in place for the event, It has been mentioned that those in luxury suites inside the stadium will still be able to purchase and consume alcohol. This decision was implemented for the FIFA World Cup just this week.
Last week Qatar had only restricted beer to the stadium; not long afterward, the government requested the stalls be placed even further away. They have created special zones for this event. If you are found drunk or are drinking outside of these zones. You will be escorted to one of these zones and only allowed to leave after you have sobered up.
The beer ban has many FIFA fans concerned, as drinking a Budweiser at a FIFA game has been a long-standing tradition. Budweiser has been the exclusive supplier of beer for this world-famous event since 1986. This decision had been made to ban the beverage just two days before the event begins.
Budweiser’s contract was renewed back in 2010 till 2022. This was made possible because Qatar had agreed to the sale of beer at the event when they won the bid. They even reconfirmed that they wouldn’t implement a beer ban as they signed the deal.
Budweiser is in the process of renewing its contract as the exclusive provider of beer at the FIFA World Cup. An event this year alone, Budweiser has sponsored $75 million. FIFA has thanked Budweiser “The tournament organizers appreciate AB InBev’s understanding and continuous support to our joint commitment to cater for everyone during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.” Even though Budweiser tweeted in response to the beer ban “Well, this is awkward,” the tweet was quickly removed.
These are not the only last-minute changes, as there have been struggles in handling the time of the event as well. FIFA World Cup is normally set to happen in the summer. Due to the heat of Qatar it had been decided to be held in winter. Even then, Qatar had requested back in August for an extension of the date of the event.
Many tourists are concerned about whether Qatar will provide not only the safety but accommodations promised by them during the event, this is especially true following the news of the beer ban. This line of questioning has been brought on by the constant changing and inconstancy of the hosts of FIFA 2022 World Cup.
Budweiser has spent millions to be the exclusive beer supplier of the event. At least it still is able to sell its nonalcoholic beverage Bud Zero at the event. This has only shown that FIFA does not have control over its own, even in ways that it had shown before in Brazil in 2014. Brazil, at the time, in response to the World Cup, changed its own laws to accommodate the event.
