When the State of Qatar announced that a ticket to the FIFA World Cup 2022 would serve as the only entry visa to the country from 01 November 2022 to 18 December 2022, I grabbed at the opportunity to visit Doha where my eldest son Carlo and youngest son Hans are working. And, of course, I was over-excited to get my once-in-a-lifetime chance to watch a real live World Cup match in a real football stadium.
Some friends expressed surprise when they learned that I was going to the World Cup. They never thought of me as a sports enthusiast. Unknown to them, I am an avid fan of “the beautiful game”. My children tease me no end about my enthusiastic support for the country’s Azkals, notwithstanding their general lack of success on the pitch.
International fans were required to purchase tickets online only at the FIFA Ticketing portal using only a VISA credit card, a concession to the latter for being a major sponsor of the World Cup. I actually missed the first two ticket sales periods. So, I vigilantly waited for the “Last-Minute Sales Phase” that started on 27 September 2022.
Getting into the FIFA Ticketing portal was an arduous task. I waited in the online queue for almost two hours. The demand for tickets was very high. To play safe, I opted for tickets with “high availability” status. I was able to buy tickets for two matches both featuring Switzerland; one against Cameroon and the other against Serbia. For the Cameroon match, I got a ticket for me and another for my wife Wynz. For the Serbia match, I bought tickets for me and Carlo. Hans, a demi-chef at Ezdan Hotel, would be too busy to attend any of the matches. His hotel would play host to the foreign media. The tickets were not cheap. The purchase set me back by over P50,000.00. There were no paper tickets issued. My digital tickets were uploaded to an app called “FIFA World Cup 2022™ Tickets”. The tickets qualified me and Wynz to apply with Qatar for our individual “Hayya Card” which was the pre-requisite for the issuance of our “Entry Permit”.
To ensure good ticket sales, Qatar took extra measures to make travel to and around the country easy and convenient. Covid-19 protocols were waived. Wynz and I landed at Doha International Airport on 11 November 2022. We breezed through immigration and customs. Hayya cardholders were eligible to use public buses and the excellent Metro subway train system for free from 01 November 2022 to 23 December 2022.
On 24 November 2022, Wynz and I traveled to Al-Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah for the 1:00 p.m. Switzerland-Cameroon match. It is a beautiful arena. It was designed by the Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The stadium has a curvilinear neo-futurist design. The retractable roof was inspired by the sails of traditional Dhow boats, used by pearl divers in the Persian Gulf. It has a capacity of 44,325 fans. Unfortunately, Architect Hadid never saw the stadium in all its glory. She died in 2016 before Al-Janoub Stadium was inaugurated in 2019.
We opted to root for Switzerland. With me dressed in the Swiss national team’s red home fan shirt and armed with complimentary Swiss flaglets, we joined the more than 34,000 screaming international and multiracial fans in the stadium. While the sparse Swiss crowd was uniformly attired in red, the large and boisterous Cameroonian fan contingent was resplendent in their green, red, and yellow national colors. We were four seats away from the field which ensured that we would have an excellent view of the game. Whereas before, I used to shout at the top of my lungs (to the consternation of my wife) at the TV set while watching a soccer match, here my scream, when Breel Embolo scored the winning goal, and the only goal of the match, at the 48th minute, merged with the collective cheer of the fans heard around the world. An Argentine gentleman seated to my left, obviously thinking I was really Swiss, tapped my shoulder and said, “Good!”. I gave him a wide smile and a thumbs-up. Ironically, Embolo was born in Cameroon. He was granted Swiss citizenship when his mother married a Swiss national.
Watching a World Cup soccer match live in the very venue of the game was an exhilarating experience. The cacophonic cheering of the raucous crowd was palpable. There was the thrill of seeing in flesh and blood international stars like Switzerland’s Embolo, Xherdan Shaqiri, Granit Xhaka, and goalkeeper Yann Sommer, to name a few. On the Cameroonian side, there were Collins Fai, Vincent Aboubakar, Karl Toko Ekambi, and goalkeeper Andre Onana.
On 02 December 2022, Carlo and I went to Stadium 974 in the Ras Abu Aboud area of Doha for the 10:00 p.m. Serbia vs. Switzerland game. Our seats were just one seat-row from the field. Stadium 974 is, or was, a unique arena, destined for demolition after use. It was designed by Fenwick Iribarren Architects and was built using 974 standard-certified shipping container vans. It was named after 974, Qatar’s international dialing code. It had no air conditioning system, so games were held late in the evening. The 44,089-capacity building had been dismantled for shipment to Uruguay which will host the FIFA World Cup in 2030.
The game between Serbia and Switzerland was one of the more thrilling and ill-tempered matches of the tournament. The match was barely 20 minutes old, but the tension was already palpable. After scoring the initial goal of the game, Xherdan Shaqiri took off straight for the section of the opposing Serbian fans to celebrate, putting his forefinger to his lips. The Serbian fans had previously taunted him. Again, there was an irony here. Shaqiri was born in Kosovo which separated from Serbia in 2008. However, goals from Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahovic put Serbia in the lead, 2-1, before Embolo evened the score at 2-2 before halftime. Just after halftime, Shaqiri clipped a pass to Ruben Vargas, who back-heeled the ball to Remo Freuler for the winning goal, 3-2. Flare-ups between the players continued. Serbia’s dugout emptied into the field when a penalty appeal from Mitrovic was denied. Serbia was fined by FIFA for the “display of discriminatory banners and messages” by supporters. The victory sent Switzerland to the knockout Round of 16 where they eventually lost to Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Switzerland’s team won both games that I attended. I joked to my family that maybe if I watched all of the team’s matches, Switzerland might have won the World Cup championship.
(Featured photo: Breel Embolo scores second goal for Switzerland; by Marko Djurica of Reuters)
About the author: RAUL F. BORJAL, “Rolly” to his family and friends, was born in Naga City, Camarines Sur and now lives in Paranaque City, Metro Manila. He is an alumnus of Ateneo de Naga University and Ateneo de Manila University. He held senior executive positions in various domestic and multinational corporations before retiring as vice president and corporate secretary of a Filipino-owned group of companies. He is married to the former Wenifreda D. Parma, a cum laude alumna of AdeNU, with whom he has four children. Rolly is a co-founder and member of the editorial board of DATELINE IBALON.