FIFA president Gianni Infantino gave his take on Qatar's last-minute ban on the sale of beer at World Cup stadiums as nothing more than a brief inconvenience to spectators.
"If for 3 hours a day you cannot drink a beer, you will survive. Maybe there is a reason why in France, Spain, in Scotland, alcohol is banned in stadiums. Maybe they are more intelligent than us, had thought maybe we should be doing that."
"If this is the biggest problem we have, I'll sign that (agreement)," Infantino said on Saturday.
Infantino blamed "crowd flows" in Doha for the decision. He said the beer ban at stadiums was made jointly by Qatar officials and FIFA.
"We tried until the end to see whether it was possible," Infantino said of allowing alcohol sales.
Spectators can drink alcoholic beer in the evenings at "the FIFA Fan Festival," a designated party area that also offers live music and activities.
Qatar puts strict limits on the purchase and consumption of alcohol, though its sale has been permitted in hotel bars for years outside of the tournament-run areas.
The Tournament is set to begin on November 20 and will go on till December 18. The first match of the event will be Qatar vs Ecuador. The alcohol plans were only released 11 weeks before kickoff and then changed on Friday. Earlier, in an alcohol policy before the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, organizers banned the sale of beers in eight stadiums in and around Doha.
FIFA says the non-alcoholic beer will still be sold at the eight stadiums, while champagne, wine, whiskey, and other alcohol will be served in the luxury hospitality areas of the arenas.
Previous World Cup hosts have been asked to make concessions. For the 2014 tournament, Brazil was forced to change a law to allow alcohol sales in stadiums, but the same cultural issues were not at play.
