The Doha Diary: Things go into overdrive in the VVIP lane
President France, Tamim Infantino Mike Qatar, Sheikh Emir Of Thani Bin President Macron Cup Following Lusail Hamad Final Pic: Qatar Gianni Stands The Emmanuel Of Wire At Fifa And Vvip: Egerton/pa Al World With Fifa Stadium,
Qatar has brought us all through the looking glass this past month…and the 12 years before. It gave us a new abbreviation too — VVIP.
It was a road sign on opening night in Al Bayt four weeks ago which brought the Very, Very Important People into our world for the first time. Sunday at Lusail was their Woodstock.
Among the dignitaries and political leaders was the world’s almost richest man, Elon Musk, who may no longer actually hold that title as he runs Twitter into the ground.
Usain Bolt, Novak Djokovic, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Khabib Nurmagomedov, the sporting icons got to witness a truly iconic night. But the directors just couldn’t miss French president Emmanuel Macron, who craved the camera so much he was down on the field within minutes of the end, consoling Kylian Mbappé.
The gilded luxury of final day was thrown into contrast by a miserable Argentine fan sitting outside the exits of Lusail metro station from early on Sunday. He had a handwritten sign that explained his extended stay here has left him broke and unable to afford to return home. He was asking for just one Qatari Riyal from each match-going fan, a pittance. But some quick maths in the shadows of the 89,000-seater arena gave us pause. That would amount to €24,000. The air of profiteering that permeates this place was clearly having an effect.
There was still time for one last piece of nonsense from Arsene Wenger and FIFA’s Technical Group this weekend. “Shorter preparation time has not impacted the quality of the tournament,” the former Arsenal manager, now a full paid-up mouthpiece for Gianni and the boys said. In what was a data-driven presentation, he provided no numbers to back up this friendly finding.
While the celebs in the swanky seats were able to quaff away to their hearts’ contention, the rest of the Lusail studiously avoided the Bud Zeroes with the fridges stocked to the brim with the stuff til closing time. Where will it all go? Who knows.
Those running things in The Oasis, a speakeasy at the Main Media Centre looked keen to avoid a similar fate as they cut all prices on the final days of the tournament. For the third-place playoff, Budweisers (the alcoholic kind) were half-price at €7.75 with the barman confessing “we have to find a way to get rid of the stuff!”
31 days, which probably felt a lot longer for anyone reading every one of these entries (or editing them!), the diary comes to an end. It may be picked up again in three and a half years. Let’s trademark North American Nuggets now.
A word of thanks to all Examiner Sport readers who’ve followed along on what has been a wild, conflicting ride through the desert. While the people who’ve come here to make a life made a huge impression on us, the place and how it’s run certainly did not. We won’t be rushing back.