Sponsored by the Embassy of the State of Qatar, the #QatarRoadShow stopped this past weekend at the Charleston Battery’s MUSC Health Stadium, giving Lowcountry residents a chance to experience Qatari hospitality and a preview of what Qatar is doing ahead of their hosting of the 2022 World Cup.

Battery goalkeeper Robert Beebe (Photo Credit: Drew Bartow)

Charleston Battery goalkeeper Robert Beebe was on hand along with the Qatar America 2018 Global Soccer Freestylers demo team who participated in 4v4 games on the Qatar Airways mini soccer pitch.

Charleston Battery COO Mike Kelleher participates in a 4v4 (Photo Credit: Drew Bartow)

Soccer fans also were able to experience a mock up of an Arab market bazaar, complete with samples of Arabic coffee, dates, as well as free face painting.

Fans also learned how to spell their name in Arabic, and an Arabic Calligrapher was on hand to write your name in Arabic to take home as a keepsake.

(Photo Credit: Drew Bartow)

For those not wanting to partake on the mini-soccer pitch with the Global Soccer Freestylers, free food trucks and Charleston’s own King of Pops handed out free popsicles as live Bundesliga and English Premier League games were broadcast on a mobile big screen display.

(Photo Credit: Drew Bartow)

An air-conditioned cinema trailer provided guests with films showing Qatar’s global outreach to encourage soccer not only in Qatar but globally.

In one of the more interesting parts of the roadshow, displays showed models of six of the eight soccer stadiums that have been completed or are in various stages of completion in preparation for the 2022 World Cup.

One of the designs that was not present was the Lusail Iconic Stadium. This stadium will be used for the opening and final games of the 2022 World Cup with a planned capacity of 86,250. The 2022 World Cup dates are being moved (due the oppressive heat in the summer) to late November-December 2022.

The six that were on display are below, with much of the information coming from displays at the roadshow.

Al-Bayt Stadium (Photo Credit: Drew Bartow)

Al-Bayt Stadium

Located in Al Kohr, 40 kilometers north of Doha, this stadium will have a 60,000 seat capacity. The stadium mimics a traditional Bedouin tent (Bayt Al Sha’ar) from which it also takes its name. A canvas-like facade is dominated by black color, but with strongly contrasting white stripes.

Al-Rayyan Stadium (Photo Credit: Drew Bartow)

Al-Rayyan Stadium

Located west of Doha in Umm Al-Afai, this stadium is currently known as Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, but it is being renovated to take its capacity from 21,282 to 44,740 in preparation for the 2022 World Cup. The stadium will be wrapped with a media facade that will act as a screen for projections and media displays.

Al Thumama Stadium (Photo Credit: Drew Bartow)

Al-Thumama Stadium

Al-Thumama will be built in one of the best possible locations in southern Doha, providing great road and public transport access, as well as being just 5 kilometers away from the city’s main airport. The stadium will have a smooth and simple outer form, covered with white cladding.

Initially, this stadium was being planned to be built underground, however with the FIFA requirements for a capacity of at least 40,000, the design had to be changed.

Though not underground, the stadium is expected to provide innovative cooling technologies, able to bring temperatures inside down to near 60 degrees during the FIFA tournament. Afterwards, the building’s volume will not decrease, but the capacity will be halved. Most of the upper ring will travel to developing countries, while an elegant patio with boutique hotel will be created with what remains.

Al-Wakrah Stadium (Photo Credit: Drew Bartow)

Al-Wakrah Stadium

Located south of Doha, Al-Wakrah was designed with links to local maritime traditions, using waves on the roof cover and wooden ribs underneath to make the interior of the roof resemble the structure of traditional boats. Under the main roof arches of 230m each there are stands for 44,000–45,000 people on two tiers.

The entire upper ring of seating is to be dismounted once the games of the 2022 World Cup end, leaving half the initial capacity. The stadium will ensure comfortable temperatures to fans with shade, aerodynamics and mechanical ventilation systems used to minimize the impact of heat.

Khalifa Stadium (Photo Credit: Drew Bartow)

Khalifa Stadium

Located in Doha, this venue hosted the 2006 Asian Games, most major games of the Qatari national team, the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, and and soon the FIFA World Cup. Khalifa Stadium is undergoing renovations and is expected to host group games, quarterfinal, semifinal and maybe even more games, depending on the final stadium list.

Built in 2005, the new western side will remain intact, retaining the arch system’s role as landmark. But the east side will go through complete makeover, mimicking the western side. Even more arches will come atop the upgraded stand.

Education City Stadium (Photo Credit: Drew Bartow)

Khalifa Stadium

Education City Stadium takes the form of a jagged diamond, “glittering by day and glowing by night.” The 45,350 capacity stadium will be located in the midst of several university campuses at the Qatar Foundation’s Education City, easily accessible for fans both in Qatar and in neighboring Bahrain, which will be only 51 minutes away from the stadium by high-speed rail. Following the FIFA World Cup, this stadium will retain 25,000 seats for use by university athletic teams.

Editor’s Note: Unsurprisingly, there was no mention at the roadshow of the unsafe working conditions that have reportedly led to the deaths of hundreds of migrant workers. BBC, the Guardian, and ESPN (amongst others) have all investigated and published reports on this serious issue, and the Human Rights Watch isn’t excited about the 2022 World Cup either.

Perhaps in response to those reports, there was a theater at the roadshow showing a video of the work the World Cup committee has done in worker compounds, along with their efforts to spread soccer and setup academies in Nepal and Subsaharan Africa.

The Qatar Roadshow will be in Raleigh this weekend, April 21–22. Look for it in Lichtin Plaza, in front of the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts.

(Photo Credit: Drew Bartow)

Thanks for reading. I still have about $100 in Dinar from my last deployment: When we got extended in Iraq, I got a 4 day pass to Qatar and really enjoyed it. It’s an amazing country from what I got to see.

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