Right I want to bring you some breaking news now from the FIFA men’s uh World Cup FIFA says that fans will not be allowed to buy alcohol around World Cup stadiums in Doha let’s speak to our Sports course one and John Watson who’s there so what does this mean what’s this about John well it was always going to be one of the big talking points wasn’t it in the lead-up to this world cup was alcohol going to be made available here in in an Islamic country and we we’re under the impression that FIFA were going to allow it to be sold inside the inside the stadium perimeters of all eight of the stadiums and also in the fan Parks but seemingly in the last 24 hours or so it’s become clear that the Qatari organizers were looking to put pressure on FIFA to reverse that decision of selling alcohol inside the stadiums in the last few moments we have had it confirmed that that is the case they just released this statement a short while ago it said following discussions between the host country authorities and FIFA a decision has been made to focus the sale of alcoholic beverages on the FIFA Fan Festival other fan destinations and license venues removing sale points of beer from qatar’s FIFA World Cup stadium perimeters now there was an indication that they were looking to row back from this we understood that a request had been made by the Qatari organizers to Budweiser the official partner of FIFA to make their kiosks inside the stadiums less visible now of course they’ve gone a step further there’s going to be huge financial implications in all of this it’s worth pointing out that for around 75 million dollars that is the deal that Budweiser have in place with FIFA to be their principal alcohol sponsor throughout and obviously there will be some Financial concerns some Financial issues to resolve if beer is not going to be able to be sold inside those stadiums it is worth pointing out though that you will or those who have the Suites which are the hospitality suite which have been put on sale inside the stadiums it will still be served inside those Hospitality boxes there’ll be an array of spirits champagne wines and beer as well so it is seemingly the fans who’ve got tickets we’re going to be taking their seats inside the stadiums in this instance who will not be able to drink beer outside that inside that sort of Stadium perimeter in the bowl outside of the bowl of the stadium where beers were going to be so observed and as we know it was always going to be a different world cup wasn’t it and I guess it just goes to illustrate the sensitivities around this tournament they wanted to put on a a World Cup which was authentic in many ways for fans traveling all over the world and that includes perhaps enjoying a beard on Match days it’s not going to be the case and as we know in a country where drinking alcohol in public is against the law obviously the Qatari officials feel that there is a balancing act to be made and in this instance it is those fans on Match days who won’t be able to drink beer inside the stadiums John thank you so much bring us right up today with our breaking news out of Doha thank you.
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