What to know about drinking at the World Cup

There’s always a palpable buzz for the World Cup.

The quadrennial tournament is the biggest sporting event in the world, and for many citizens of soccer-obsessed nations, it’s one of the most important months of their lives. As such, the natural inclination for many of them is to celebrate (or self-medicate) during the games with a few alcoholic beverages. But this year’s World Cup in Qatar may be a little subdued — for a number of reasons — one of which being the lack of booze flowing through the stadiums.

While alcohol is not outright banned in Qatar, a country whose primary religion prohibits drinking, it is tightly regulated. Sale and consumption of alcohol will not be allowed inside the stadiums during World Cup games. Travelers will be able to purchase it at specific hotels and fan events, though the Qatari royal family recently demanded that Budweiser-branded beer tents be moved to less prominent locations outside the stadiums.

[ Qatar bans beer sales just two days before first games ]

The United States embassy’s tips and tricks about World Cup-related travel states that even though the rules will be stringent and somewhat intimidating, “most hotels and restaurants catering to international patrons will serve alcohol to guests who are 21+, including via room service.”

Qatar has very strict laws about drinking in public and public drunkenness though. According to Article 270 of the Qatari penal code, “whoever drinks any alcoholic beverages in a public place…shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months and/or a fine not exceeding three thousand Qatari Riyals (or roughly $2,750 dollars).” Giving a person under the age of 16 an alcoholic beverage comes with a maximum three-year prison sentence and/or a fine not exceeding ten thousand Qatari Riyals (QR), devastating news for any parents who wanted to share a core World Cup memory with their teenage offspring over a beer. Transporting or smuggling alcohol in and around Qatar also comes with a maximum three-year imprisonment and 10,000 QR fine, according to Article 273.

For what it’s worth, Qatari police have been instructed to show restraint when it comes to minor offenses, per Reuters. Public drunkards will also reportedly avoid prosecution, though police across the world are famously prone to putting their own interpretation on things.

According to Radha Stirling, founder of the legal aid organization Detained in Dubai, drinkers can be reported to Qatari police if they are found to be “offending” someone, somewhat common behavior by drunk people, and also a very arbitrary term that’s open to the conservative police’s interpretation. Capital punishment is still used in Qatar as well, though Qatar’s courts only use flogging for Muslim people who are found to be in violation of sharia law. A Muslim man punished for drinking in 2016 received 40 lashes.

Additionally, World Cup czar Nasser Al Khater announced that there will be special areas for fans who have been drinking excessively to sober up, saying they’re a place to keep people safe and reduce harm to others. It is unclear what level of drunkenness would result in a trip to the sober area as opposed to a full-blown arrest.

The Qatari spinning up their own version of the Veteran’s Stadium magistrate could (and likely will) present problems for fans hailing from, let’s call it, the more rowdy countries of the western world. Hooligan culture runs rampant in England whenever their team is on the national stage. With England boasting one of the more talented teams in this year’s field, their supporters flocking to Qatar will have to adapt to watching games without the company of a few pints. Their neighbors from Wales were overjoyed when the country qualified for its first men’s World Cup since 1958, only to realize that the party will be held in a country that does not share its drinking habits.

Australia will be at the World Cup as well, and anybody who’s ever encountered an Aussie in the wild knows how excitable those beer-loving blokes are, especially when it comes to sports. Americans and Canadians have also paired watching sports with knocking back a few drinks for generations. As fans from both North American countries make their way to Qatar — the Canadians for their first men’s World Cup since 1986 — they’ll have to learn some new practices.

A spokesperson from the U.S. Department of State offered the following guidance.

“The Department of State has no greater priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas. Public intoxication can cause legal consequences. As a general matter, in a foreign country, U.S. citizens are subject to that country’s laws, even if they differ from those in the United States.”

Most countries are advising their traveling citizens to consult official government web pages to know what they’re getting into before embarking on the trip, though most just provide basic instructions like “avoid drinking alcohol outside licensed premises.” Keeping in line with one tradition of bringing mediocre teams to the World Cup, the United States and Canada are also displaying another beautiful adherence to the tradition of useless bureaucracy.

“While abroad, Canadians must abide by local laws,” Charlotte MacLeod, a media relations spokesperson for the Canadian government, told the Daily News. “We recommend all travelers follow the Government of Canada’s Travel Advice and Advisories to ensure Canadians have the best information possible before taking the decision to travel abroad.”

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As we all know, every sports fans’ immediate reaction to a euphoric, once-in-a-lifetime moment during an international competition is to check their country’s travel advisory. Surely no one will forget to do that as they rush out of the stadium following a victory and head directly to the nearest legal watering hole.

State departments of the other English-speaking countries represented at the World Cup did not respond to the Daily News’ request for comment.

Of course, inconvenient rules about getting sloshed barely register on the grander scale of political rot attached to the 2022 World Cup: This entire tournament is a festival of corruption. A staggering 15 of the 22 FIFA officials who participated in the 2010 vote that led to Qatar being awarded the World Cup have since had criminal charges levied against them. An estimated 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since the country was named host of the 2022 spectacle. Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar as well, a crime that carries possible imprisonment. The U.S. team plans on staging a protest in the form of rainbow-colored logos on their practice jerseys, and several European sides have pushed for special captain’s armbands in support of the LGBTQ community.

For fans, the confusing nature of the drinking rules may also create accidental violations. Getting nice and saucy in one of the designated drinking areas and then walking to the stadium for a game creates a harrowing exercise in appearing sober. Think of it like a field sobriety test that you don’t know is happening. If a person stumbles, momentarily forgets they’re not allowed to smoke cigarettes, or even raises their voice a few octaves, does that constitute a public drunkenness offense?

Two English fans found themselves in a similar situation during the 2018 World Cup in Russia. One inebriated Brit cut himself on the door of a train while heading to the city of Volgograd to see a game. Another man, learning his fellow Three Lions supporter needed to be hospitalized, then decided to leave the train. This led to a conflict that got the second man arrested, as he did not meet the police’s “lawful demands to cease acts of hooliganism.” One report states that the second man tried to grab the cop’s gun while still aboard the train. Two other Englishmen were arrested for fighting each other in a separate incident.

While obviously these are things that a person should not do, they are all examples of fairly typical drunken exploits. There is no way that English fans, who believe their team has a shot of winning the whole thing, will remain on their best behavior, either as their team bows out disappointingly early or makes another deep run. That may result in some much more serious punishments in Qatar, a country that has already proven oddly strict about innocuous things like filming television news reports in the streets.

The safe move is for fans to fuel themselves with caffeine and good ol’ fashioned H20, but good luck telling that to the crazed, fun-loving diehards who have waited four years for this party.