• World Cup host will allow alcohol to be drunk in fanzones • Hassan al-Thawadi vows tournament will be ‘fun’

Qatar is considering special World Cup courts to deal “very gently” with fans breaking rules on public consumption of alcohol, according to the chief executive of the 2022 organising committee.

Along with a string of other issues, Qatar’s laws prohibiting public drinking have been a source of constant questions for organisers since it won the right to host the tournament in December 2010.

“I know in South Africa there where specific courts established during the World Cup for this kind of thing, and that is something we were discussing with Fifa,” the Qatar 2022 organising committee chief executive Hassan al-Thawadi told Reuters. “In relation to drunk fans it will be as it is anywhere else, anyone who is rowdy, anyone who breaches the law, will be very gently – depending on how they react – taken care of in a manner to make sure that people are not disrupting the public order Everyone will be able to have fun and be exposed to Qatari culture.”

During the 2010 World Cup, South Africa set up 56 special courts to deal swiftly with cases related to the tournament. But the courts were criticised for their heavy-handed treatment of some local offenders and also for being used to swiftly prosecute those breaking laws introduced specifically at the behest of Fifa, including those related to ambush marketing.

Under Qatari law it is an offence to drink alcohol or be drunk in a public place, with sales restricted to high end hotels, though the sale of alcohol is likely to be permitted in specially created fanzones during the tournament. The contentious Qatar World Cup has faced questions over everything from how it was won to its timing, with searing summer temperatures of over 50C (122F) necessitating a move to winter, but al-Thawadi said its laws on alcohol would not be an issue.

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“We welcome everyone in the world. We’ve hosted many people, from many places and that was never an issue. This will be a fun World Cup. It will be one of the best cups out there,” he added.

Meanwhile, sources close to the Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino have insisted that no pact will be agreed with his rival for the Fifa presidency, Sheikh Salman Ebrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain.

On Monday Vitaly Mutko, the Russian sports minister and Fifa executive committee member, reignited speculation that the pair could combine their efforts before the election on 26 February.

Given the Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman only decided to stand when Michel Platini was forced to pull out, after initially promising to back the Frenchman, speculation that the pair have some kind of implicit deal has continued to swirl.

But Infantino has publicly insisted that he is committed to winning the race and has no deal with Salman, who secured the support of the Confederation of African Football late last week.

“When there is a formal support from Asia and Africa, then you are certainly the frontrunner. But I am not sure that all African federations would support him. Moreover, I do know that not all African federations will do that,” said Mutko.

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“But it does not mean that he is an unsuitable candidate. He is a strong and a good candidate, but Europe has its own candidate and he is Gianni Infantino. Russia’s stance is very simple as we want them to come to terms eventually and lay out all their trump cards on the table.”

Infantino has already announced that Russia will back him. Six other European federations – Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Poland, and Slovakia – confirmed their support on Monday.

The outspoken Liberia FA President Musa Bility, who failed an integrity check to stand himself in the election, said that up to half of CAF’s 54 members would defy their confederation’s instruction to vote for Sheikh Salman.

Bility said the Liberian FA, one of 209 voters, would back Prince Ali of Jordan, who is also standing along with French former Fifa executive Jerome Champagne and South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale.