Football fever is gripping the country. The FIFA World Cup 2022 is witnessing fans arrive in Qatar from all around the world to celebrate the beautiful game.
The number of fans is increasing everyday and it is truly a ‘world comes to Qatar' moment.
It is not just 32 of the world’s best football teams and more than a million football fans heading to Qatar, they have turned the whole country into a celebration ground.
Qatar is hosting a vast array of cultural and entertainment options, but fans have turned every public place in the country including metro stations and trains into celebration spots.
With just three days of the world’s biggest sporting event being held in Qatar, the atmosphere has changed a lot into a happy festival mood.
On Monday, Iranian fans sang their football songs as “lalai lalalai la” and England supporters responded to the songs with chants of their own.
“The atmosphere is very warm and we are enjoying,” said a group of English fans heading to Msheireb Downtown Doha.
Qatar has ensured to offer warm hospitality to the visitors right from their arrival at the airport. A video on social media shows airport staff greeting every arriving passenger by cheering for their country.
A group of Spanish fans who had just arrived in the country ahead of today’s match between Spain and Costa Rica, said, “Everything here is very welcoming, we look forward to an exciting tournament.”
“Everything here is very comfortable, especially the transport services are well organised,” said Tomas Ramirez, a Mexican fan.
Aside from visitors, long-term residents are also finding the multicultural experience enjoyable and loving meeting football fans from around the world.
“It’s very interesting to see fans from around the world, dressed in their national team jerseys, some with traditional hats and ornaments symbolising their traditions and others draped in flags — it looks like a representation of a mini United Nations,” said a long term Indian resident in Doha.
Popular tourist spots like Katara, Msheireb Downtown Doha, Souq Waqif, and Aspire Park are witnessing celebratory atmosphere throughout the day with fans singing, drumming, dancing and showing their support for their teams and favourite players.