Drunk England football fans will be rounded up and sent to a special zone to sober up in Qatar, country’s World Cup chief warns

• World Cup begins in just over a month, with Qatar the first Muslim nation to host
• Country will open more areas for alcohol sale, which is usually tightly restricted
• But organiser says special zone will be set up for people who drink to excess

Drunk football fans will be rounded up and taken to a special sober zone at the Qatar World Cup, the country’s chief organiser has warned.

Alcohol, which is typically restricted to hotel bars, will be sold outside stadiums and in fan zones during the tournament, Nasser Al Khater said today.

But anyone deemed to be excessively drunk will be taken to ‘a place to sober up’, he added without giving further details.

Qatar will allow alcohol to be sold at stadiums and fan zones during this winter’s World Cup but has warned that people could be sent to a sober zone if they cause problems (file image)

The World Cup gets underway in just over a month’s time, with Qatar being the first Muslim nation to host the tournament.

That raises a number of potential cultural clashes with players and fans, one of which is around the sale of alcohol.

Typically, only non-Muslim residents of Qatar and tourists are allowed to buy alcohol, and only from specially licenced venues.

These are typically hotel bars, clubs and high-end restaurants, which can refuse to serve people if they are visibly drunk or causing a nuisance.

Alcohol can also be purchased for consumption at home, but must be done through a state distributor under a merit system.

During the world cup, that will be expanded to stadiums and designed fan zones.

But, speaking to Sky News, Mr Khater said: ‘There are plans in place for people to sober up if they’ve been drinking excessively.

‘It’s a place to make sure that they keep themselves safe, they’re not harmful to anybody else.’

He added: ‘All we ask is for people to be respectful of the culture.

‘At the end of the day, as long as you don’t do anything that harms other people, if you’re not destroying public property, as long as you’re behaving in a way that’s not harmful, then everybody’s welcome and you have nothing to worry about.’

It comes off the back of widespread fan disturbance at the 2020 Euros – held in 2021, large parts of which were hosted in the UK.

The final, which was played at Wembley, was beset by problems including drunken behaviour in the streets and fans breaking into the stadium.

It prompted calls for a wholesale review of the way security is managed at games, and calls for a re-think of the culture around high-profile games.

Other potential culture clashes in Qatar include on LGBT issues.

Mr Khater said gay fans who chose to attend will be able to express affection in public and display banners or emblems supporting the LGBT community.

However, he said it will be a matter for football’s governing authorities to say whether players can display similar emblems on the pitch.

And he called for politics to be taken out of football.

‘This is a sporting tournament that people want to come [to] and enjoy,’ he said. 

‘Turning it into a platform of political statements I don’t think is right for the sport.’

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