DOHA, Qatar, Nov 27 – An estimated 33,000 people streamed in to the FIFA World Cup Fan Festival at the Al Bidda Park in Doha on Saturday night to watch as Argentina revived their hopes of progressing to the round of 16 with a 2-0 win over Mexico.
Located close to the iconic Corniche in Central Doha, the Al Bidda Park has been a favourite hang out joint for all football fans who don’t have tickets for matches.
The park has a giant screen mounted with various outlets surrounding including a food court, alcohol and beverage centre, the official FIFA shop as well as sponsor booths where fans can go in and experience different products.
A Kenyan team, sponsored to Doha by leading betting firm Odibets through their ‘Twende Qatar na Odibets’ promotion have also not been left behind in experiencing the beauty and fun of the FIFA Fan Festival.
“This is a lot of fun and even if you don’t get to the stadium you still feel part of the World Cup experience,” said sports journalist Alex Muange aka Sir Alexas, also one of the Odibets influencers.
Fans from all corners of the world throng the Park daily for the excitement.
“This is a great thing for us who can’t watch all the games because of the price of the tickets. It makes us have that feel of being in a stadium, though we are watching the match on TV,” a Mexican fan told Capital Sport.
Opening match tickets were going for Sh76,500 for the most expensive (category one) while the cheapest was Sh6,800. For the group matches, tickets are going for between Sh27,200 and Sh1360 for Category four.
While some prices are affordable, the availability is another issue. And that is why most fans have decided to pick specific matches, and watch the rest in the fan village where the fun never stops until 1am.
The camaraderie and love between fans of all nationalities is immense, just showing the true and real power of football.
Senegal fans freely mixed with Ecuador fans, with banter all round being about their final group match where both sides have to win. A group of Senegalese drummers created some entertainment at the entrance of the Village, where all the banter was thrown.
“Senegal is a very good team, much like Ecuador. But I am sure we will beat them 1-0 and progress,” one of the Ecuador fans told Capital Sport.
And inside, it was more banter especially between Mexico and Argentina fans, who were in their numbers.
“We want to send Messi home! Vamos aganan!” one of the Mexico fans shouted just before the match. However, the body language completely changed at Full Time, with Messi having been on the scoresheet in the 2-0 win.