Governing Bodies
Long lines and lack of water mar Qatar World Cup stadium trial
- Summary
- Fans packing showpiece Lusail Stadium face long delays on exit
- More than 77,000 people make for Qatar’s largest ever crowd
- Water runs short inside and outside of stadium
- Two months left before World Cup begins
“Stop! Can’t you see the metro station is full? Stop!” a frazzled supervisor shouted as green-vested marshals linked arms to contain thousands of fans streaming from the stadium that will host soccer’s World Cup final in Qatar.
It was after midnight on Friday and, for hours, nearly 78,000 people had been filing out of the stadium after a near-capacity match tested the small Gulf state’s readiness for the tournament, which kicks off on Nov. 20.
“Let us through! We have children,” cried one man carrying a sweaty toddler. “We need water. Is there water?” a woman shouted from behind the line.
There was none.
Stadium stands were out of water by halftime and there was none outside, where the late summer temperature was 34 Celsius (93 Fahrenheit) but felt far hotter because of the humidity.
Friday’s match, called the Lusail Super Cup, was the first time the new Lusail stadium has hosted such a crowd. At 80,000 seats, it is the largest of Qatar’s eight World Cup stadiums and a gold-clad showpiece designed to host the final match on Dec. 18.
Qatar is the first Middle Eastern country and smallest nation ever to host the World Cup. While it has spent billions of dollars on infrastructure, it has never organised an event on such a scale – which unusually for a World Cup will also be held in or around a single city.
There will be four matches around Doha every day for the first 12 days of the tournament. World soccer governing body FIFA says 2.45 million tickets out of a possible 3 million are already sold and an unprecedented 1.2 million people, equivalent to nearly half Qatar’s population, are expected to visit.
Organisers said exactly 77,575 people passed through the turnstiles on Friday, the largest crowd ever in Qatar. Families brought young children to the stadium, arriving ahead of a performance by Egyptian singer Amr Diab. Hundreds of Saudi fans wore the blue jersey of Al Hilal, the Saudi team which beat Egypt’s Zamalek on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
With migrants often bused in to fill empty arenas, hundreds of South Asian and African workers were also there together in a section of the stadium, wearing identical white, blue or red t-shirts. They left en masse at half time to board buses away.
Asked about the teething problems, a spokesperson for organisers, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, told Reuters the game was designed to identify operational issues and learn lessons for a “seamless” World Cup.
“Every team involved in the event’s organisation gained invaluable experience they will carry into this year’s tournament,” the spokesperson added in a statement.
‘THIS IS SUCH A MESS’
In the post-game chaos, one fan leaving the stadium swore, elbowed a marshal in the neck and broke through the cordon, followed by several others, trying to reach the metro.
The station entrance is 400 metres from the stadium, but fans waited in a 2.5 kilometre line snaking back and forth across an empty lot. Officials said that was to prevent a stampede.
“This is such a mess,” said Eslam, an Egyptian fan who has lived in Doha since 2004 and had his arm around a bleary-eyed and exhausted friend in the line. “I don’t want to go to the World Cup any more. Not if it’s like this.”
Some suppliers, caterers, security personnel and medical staff had difficulty accessing the stadium, a supplier told Reuters.
“Even some ambulances were driving around trying to figure out where they were supposed to be positioned. We were given the wrong directions over-and-over and the parking passes we had were for lots that didn’t exist,” said the supplier, who did not want their name published due to the sensitivity.
The stadium cooling system, which Qatar has described as state-of-the art, struggled to keep the stands cool. Humidity levels and temperatures will be lower when the tournament starts, but there will be other challenges.
Unlike on Friday, ticket holders will be able to drink beer outside stadiums before and after each game.
Friday’s game was also a test for stadium security. Close to the pitch, guards in dark clothes and baseball caps were positioned every few metres in the aisles, monitoring fans, who were enthusiastic but well-behaved.
Outside, guards patrolled the perimeter in groups of five men or five women, each with a hook-shaped baton dangling from their belt. Some carried fistfuls of zip-tie handcuffs.
Preparations go far beyond the stadiums.
To prevent traffic across its only land border – with Saudi Arabia – from jamming roads, organisers are levelling a section of desert where fans will park their cars and board buses for the 100 km (62 miles) journey up the desert highway to Doha.
Authorities will limit cars on the roads by ordering schools to close for the tournament, banning vehicles from swathes of the city and urging businesses to have staff work from home.
An old airport is back in operation to handle extra flights and new passport control stands are being introduced to triple the number of passengers Qatar can process. Qatar Airways is shifting 70% of its flight schedule to create more landing slots during the tournament.
-Reuters
Governing Bodies
Zimbabwe sports minister among candidates for International Olympic Committee presidency
A total of seven candidates are running for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee with the winner replacing outgoing president Thomas Bach at elections in March 2025 in ancient Olympia, Greece.
Kirsty Coventry:
Age: 41
Country: Zimbabwe
Entry into the IOC: 2013
An Olympic swimming champion and Zimbabwe’s most successful Olympian, Coventry is Zimbabwe’s Sports Minister. She is the only woman among the candidates and the only one from Africa.
Prince Feisal Al Hussein:
Age: 60
Country: Jordan
Entry into the IOC: 2010
Prince Feisal heads the Jordan Olympic Committee and has been an IOC executive board member since 2019. An Executive Board member of the Olympic Council of Asia, Prince Feisal has also held several posts at the Royal Jordanian Air Force.
Sebastian Coe:
Age: 67
Country: Britain
Entry into the IOC: 2020
An Olympic track and field champion and head of World Athletics, Coe also led the organisation for the 2012 London Olympics. A former Conservative Member of Parliament, Coe is also involved in sports consultancy and is a former head of the British Olympic Association.
Johan Eliasch:
Age: 62
Country: Britain
Entry into the IOC: 2024
The wealthy Swedish-born entrepreneur with a variety of business interests has headed the international skiing federation since 2021. He only joined the IOC in July at its session in the Paris Olympics.
David Lappartient:
Age: 51
Country: France
Entry into the IOC: 2022
A rising figure in world sports administration. He heads the international cycling body, UCI, and is in charge of esports within the IOC, having helped seal a 12-year deal with Saudi Arabia earlier this year for the Olympic esports Games.
Juan Antonio Samaranch:
Age: 64
Country: Spain
Entry into the IOC: 2001
The son of the late former IOC president, Samaranch has considerable IOC experience and influence in his six years as vice president and 23 as a member. He headed the coordination commission for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
Morinari Watanabe:
Age: 65
Country: Japan
Entry into the IOC: 2018
Watanabe has headed the gymnastics federation (FIG) since 2016, having been re-elected twice since. He is the first Japanese candidate to run for the IOC presidency.
Governing Bodies
World Athletics boss, Coe and multi-millionaire Eliasch among seven candidates for IOC presidency
World athletics chief Sebastian Coe, multi-millionaire and Olympic newcomer Johan Eliasch and Zimbabwe’s Sports Minister Kirsty Coventry are among seven candidates for next year’s International Olympic Committee presidency election, the IOC said on Monday.
IOC Vice President Juan Antonio Samaranch, son of the late former IOC president, international cycling chief David Lappartient, Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan and international gymnastics federation head Morinari Watanabe are also in the running to succeed current president Thomas Bach.
The 70-year-old German is stepping down next year after 12 years at the helm. The election will be held at the IOC session in ancient Olympia, Greece in March 2025.
The candidates will all present their programmes, behind closed doors, to the full IOC membership in January 2025.
The IOC, with 111 members currently, is in charge of the Olympic Games and the multi-billion dollar industry linked to the world’s biggest multi-sports event.
Bach’s departure comes with the organisation in a financially robust position, having secured $7.3 billion for the years 2025-28 and $6.2 billion already in deals for 2029-2032.
The president is elected to an eight-year first term with the possibility of a second term of four years, if re-elected.
Coe, 67, only joined the IOC in 2020 after a rocky relationship between World Athletics and the IOC over Coe’s ban of Russian track and field athletes almost a decade ago following the country’s doping scandal.
A former Olympic champion with a wealth of experience in the sports world, Coe was previously head of the London 2012 Games and the British Olympic Association. He is also a former Conservative Member of Parliament.
Coventry, 41, is the only woman running for president and the former Olympic swimming champion, who is Zimbabwe’s most decorated Olympian, could become not only the first female president but also the first from Africa.
MALE PRESIDENTS
All IOC presidents have been men, with eight of the nine from Europe and one from the United States.
The 62-year-old Eliasch, head of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), only joined the IOC in July, with the Swedish-born British businessman’s candidacy a surprise for some.
Prince Feisal, 60, is a member of the IOC executive board, having joined the organisation in 2010, while Spaniard Samaranch, with considerable IOC experience in his six years as vice president, headed the coordination commission for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
“The IOC and Olympic movement have made enormous strides over the past decade under the leadership of Mr Bach,” said Samaranch in a statement.
“The IOC now needs a new leader with deep experience of the Olympic movement who can help steer it through this period of upheaval.”
UCI chief Lappartient has been a rapidly rising figure within the sports world after joining the IOC in 2022.
The Frenchman also is in charge of esports within the IOC, having helped seal a 12-year deal with Saudi Arabia earlier this year for the Olympic esports Games.
Japan’s Watanabe, 65, has headed the gymnastics federation (FIG) since 2016, having been re-elected twice since, and is his country’s first ever candidate for the IOC presidency.
Under current rules members have to step down when they reach 70, the IOC’s age limit, unless they are given a four-year extension.
-Reuters
There is currently insinuations that proposed certain elements may have smuggled modifications to amend the Statutes of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) when the body holds its General Assembly next month in Kinshasa, Congo next month.
The confederation will be having its 46th General Assembly on 10th October. It is at such gatherings that amendments are made to existing rules.
According to an article authored by Mansour Loum, the editor of Sports News Africa, some national football federations have denied being party to proposed amendments which were linked to them.
One of such is coming from the Equatorial Guinea Football Federation which has denied signing proposals being circulated relating to amendments to CAF Statutes.
It is claimed that a circular dated 8 September has been sent to CAF member associations. Signed by CAF General Secretary, Véron Mosengo-Omba, it is titled: “Proposals for amendments to the CAF statutes and regulations for the application of the statutes, as well as the rules of procedure of the CAF General Assembly, presented by the national associations.”
Seven member associations were quoted as sponsoring the amendments. They are: Botswana, Comoros, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania and Niger.
But Equatorial Guinea has denied being party to the proposed amendment which seek to remove age barrier for candidates seeking to be CAF Presidents and also removing zonal considerations in election into FIFA Council.
The current Statute stipulates that a presidential candidate must not be older than 70 as at the date of election.
Most of the national federation members are already approaching that age. In the estimation of the author of the article, Mansour Loum, the current CAF president, Patrice Motsepe, is 62 years old. With the age limit, he could, for example, only run for two more terms.
Continuing, Loum wrote that regarding the elections to the FIFA Council, each zone has a representative on the FIFA Council and candidates for these positions can only be elected by the presidents of the member associations of their group zone.
Thus, the presidents of French-speaking federations can only vote for a French-speaking representative, the English-speakers for the English-speaking group, and so on.
The distribution of seats on the FIFA Council is currently as follows:
Francophone Group – Two members
Anglophone Group – Two members
Arabophone/Lusophone/Hispanophone Group – Two members
One female member elected from among the female candidates, regardless of language groups
The modification of the grouping by zonal unions would mean that all presidents could vote for candidates outside their group, or that the candidates would also no longer be limited to a group.
Several candidates from the same group could be elected to the FIFA Council, while at the same time some groups could no longer be represented.
Equatorial Guinea disputes any request for modification. The football federation president, Venancio Tomas Ndong Micha has reportedly denied being party to the proposed amendments.
“I am writing to you to present the disagreement of the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation with part of the content of the document sent to the CAF Executive Council on September 8, 2024 signed by you (…)
“In this document, there are amendments presented by the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation (…) By this letter, we confirm that the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation has not submitted any amendments to the CAF administration for the 46th CAF Ordinary General Assembly to be held on Thursday, October 10, 2024 in Kinshasa,” he denounces.
Enough to cast doubt on this document sent by the CAF secretary general and the objective targeted. Contacted, a federation president, whose body is not mentioned in the letter, is surprised by these two requests for amendments and wonders about their intentions.
The press release from the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation has sown doubt and now he is questioning the originality of the attachments included in this document which is likely to be talked about between now and the CAF General Assembly.
– Mansour Loum
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