The air conditioner in the Al Thumama Stadium flies a Dutch flag.
Photo: imago/Sven Simon
It’s really hard right now to warm up to this World Cup as a European. Kasper Hjulmand, value-oriented coach of Denmark’s national team, has now admitted: “As a person, I have difficulties finding myself here.” A courageous admission that came across as goosebumps in his audience. Unfortunately, the goosebumps are really the case, because the organizers are doing everything to make this tournament shock-frozen. The fact that press conference halls, media rooms or VIP boxes are cooled down to what feels like 15 degrees Celsius and less is perhaps still acceptable because a few days ago temperatures outside were well over 30 degrees. And nobody wants to sweat inside.
But nobody understands that cold air is still being blown from full pipes into most stadiums. With the start of the tournament, the temperatures in Qatar – as announced by bad weather guarantor Gianni Infantino and his Fifa – have become noticeably more pleasant. At the latest with the early sunset everything comes very close to the ideal of a mild summer evening. Probably nobody in Germany wants to hear that, but it’s like this: The weather for the World Cup in the desert is great right now.
Nevertheless, the fans in the Education City Stadium ran at full power during the Denmark-Tunisia game, the gigantic air conditioning systems did a great job: fans and journalists in the upper blocks put on jackets and sweaters, others threw a scarf around their necks.
The day before, a few tall, strong visitors at the group match between England and Iran in the Khalifa International Stadium did things differently: the air-conditioning outlets there are of a considerable diameter, but they can be rotated. Anyone who climbed onto the plastic chairs in the last row could direct the arctic current directly under the stadium roof. You only had to wait for a moment when the stewards were looking at the field.
Do fully air-conditioned stadiums make sense in Qatar’s winter? Will that help the energy balance of this World Cup? Of course not. No one can say that Fifa didn’t warn about it. On the contrary: on page 28 of the guide for media representatives there is an explicit note on the travel checklist: The air conditioning is switched on depending on the outside temperatures. Especially for the games kicked off at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. local time, these are turned on to guarantee the players optimal conditions. And literally: “Please bring warm, windproof clothing to feel comfortable.” It really is a World Cup to make you shudder.
Read all our articles on the World Cup in Qatar at: dasnd.de/katar
