https://www.nytimes.

com/2022/11/14/sports/soccer/world-cup-beer-
fifa.html

Qatar World Cup Faces New Edict: Hide the Beer

Before the opening game, tournament organizers are scrambling to balance late changes
ordered by powerful Qatari officials with the interests of a major FIFA sponsor, Budweiser.

By Tariq Panja

Published Nov. 14, 2022 Updated Nov. 17, 2022

The message came from the highest levels of the Qatari state: The beer tents must be
moved, and there would be no discussion about it.

With the opening game of the World Cup only days away, Qatari organizers have been
working hurriedly in recent days to relocate Budweiser-branded beer stations at eight
stadiums after a sudden demand that three people with knowledge of the belated change
said had come from inside the country’s royal family.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss
sensitive planning details for the tournament. World Cup officials appeared to confirm the
changes in a statement, however. Budweiser said it only learned of the new plan on
Saturday — eight days before the tournament’s first game.

The decision to move the beer stations appeared to be rooted in concern that the
prominent presence of alcohol at stadiums during the monthlong World Cup would
unsettle the local population and thus represent a potential security problem. But it also
highlighted an issue that has stalked the buildup to the first World Cup in the Arab world,
and that is expected to be contentious throughout the tournament in Qatar, a
conservative Muslim country where access to alcohol is tightly controlled.

Ever since FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, awarded the hosting rights to Qatar in
December 2010, tournament organizers have grappled with balancing the obligations
they signed up to fulfill — which include the sale of alcohol and providing promotional
space for Budweiser, one of FIFA’s biggest sponsors — with concerns about upsetting, or
alienating, a domestic constituency that has chafed at some of the culture clash inherent
in bringing a traditionally beer-soaked event to a Muslim nation.
 Budweiser has been a fixture at World Cups since the 1980s. Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

Alcohol is not banned in Qatar, but most visitors are only able to purchase it at bars inside
designated hotels. FIFA and Qatari officials had struggled for years to devise a plan for
the World Cup, where beer has flowed freely for generations, before finally deciding that
the sale of alcoholic beverages would be permitted within a security perimeter outside
venues but not inside the stadium bowls themselves.

Still, moves that limit Budweiser’s branding or affect its ability to sell its products could
complicate FIFA’s relationship with a powerful partner, not to mention the contractual
relationship between the brewer, the governing body and Qatari World Cup organizers.

Budweiser pays roughly $75 million to associate itself with the World Cup every four
years. But a World Cup in Qatar has produced unusual obstacles, and led to ongoing
tensions between the company and FIFA over issues ranging from agreeing on sales
points in Qatar to negotiating how to get supplies into the country.

Budweiser’s contract with FIFA not only gives it sales exclusivity but also requires the
company to provide vast quantities of beer for FIFA’s partners and hospitality guests.

Budweiser said it was not informed of the changes by FIFA until Saturday. The company
is “working with FIFA to relocate the concession outlets to locations as directed,” a
Budweiser spokeswoman told The New York Times in a statement. The spokeswoman
declined to disclose if the company was getting the rights it was entitled to under its
contracts, saying only that “our focus is on delivering the best possible consumer
experience under the new circumstances.”

A representative of the World Cup organizing committee released a statement, which it

said was on behalf of both the tournament and FIFA, that played down the changes.
“Operational plans are being finalized,” it read, adding that “this has a direct impact on
the location of certain fan areas.” The statement made no mention of beer, and noted that
“pouring times and the number of pouring destinations” remained the same at all eight
stadiums.

The sudden change on alcohol sales is in keeping with the ever-shifting buildup to the
2022 World Cup. Work to complete hotels and accommodations to house the estimated
one million visitors continues even this week, and changes large and small have been
made even as the first matches loomed. In August, for example, the date for the opening
game — a milestone in place for years — was suddenly moved forward by a day on the
eve of celebrations and a global advertising campaign to mark 100 days to go.
The installation of the facilities to sell alcohol at the stadiums had been underway for
most of the last month. But late last week, perhaps as late as Friday, a message filtered
down that one of Qatar’s most senior royals had asked for the beer concessions to be
moved to less obtrusive locations.

The staff, according to the people with knowledge of the plans, were told the move
followed security advice. But the belief that the change had originated with Sheikh
Jassim bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani — the brother of Qatar’s ruling emir and the royal
most active in the day-to-day planning of the tournament — suggested it was
nonnegotiable.

On Sunday, staff members wearing yellow safety vests could be seen rolling beer tents
decorated with Budweiser’s logo to new locations.

Qatari officials are said to have asked that the tents be moved away from other
concession points, including those belonging to McDonald’s, another longstanding FIFA
partner, but also merchandise stalls and other sponsor-themed activities.

Since they first started bidding for the World Cup in 2009, Qatari officials have said that
beer would be more widely available during the tournament in Qatar, but that it would be
sold and consumed on terms that respected local customs. An experiment to sell beer
around the 2019 Club World Cup ended with mixed results.

For that event, Qatari officials built a fan zone on the outskirts of Doha where fans were
allowed to drink freely for hours each day. Supporters were then ferried by buses to the
stadium, a journey that took about 45 minutes.

Organizers have also created similar destinations for the monthlong World Cup.

Budweiser has been a ubiquitous presence at the World Cup since first signing up as a
FIFA sponsor a year before the 1986 Cup in Mexico. It has been a reliable source of
revenue for the organization ever since, though it was among a slew of top FIFA partners
to cautiously express concerns in 2014 amid a stream of allegations that members of
FIFA’s leadership at the time had been bribed to select Qatar to host the 2022
tournament. “We are concerned about the situation and are monitoring developments,”
the company said at the time. “We expect FIFA to take all necessary steps to address the
issue.”

FIFA’s leadership was eventually removed, but the World Cup remained with Qatar, and
Budweiser planned accordingly. It announced plans to use the event to sell and promote
its nonalcoholic beverages alongside its beer in specific locations.

Now even that plan is not certain. One official involved in the process said FIFA officials
agreed to move the beer tents to more obscure locations because they were concerned
that if they did not they risked seeing Budweiser’s concessions being shut down entirely.