To be part of it, a letter must be presented showing the amount that the foreigner receives per month, since they will only have a 25% budget according to their earnings, to acquire the license. You will have to earn more than 10,000 Qatari riyals (57,000 Mexican pesos) per month.
In this pair of shops, only foreigners who are not Muslim Arabs will be able to enter. They will have to make an appointment, consume and then hide their purchases when they leave and they will only be able to discover them inside your home. It is not that I have tried to process said license, but the information was given to me by the Mexican Yezenia Navarro, leader of the Mexican fans before the organizing committee of Qatar 2022. Great hostess, who has been in this Arab land for almost 12 years.
Another interesting fact is that each bottle of high degree of alcohol has a bar code, to know who bought it and if there is a misdemeanor, the authorities know who was responsible for the purchase.
Dry stadiums?
According to other fans, it is estimated that Mexicans drank between 4 and 10 beers… daily!
The lack of purchase of alcohol had a great effect on thousands of Mexican fans in the stadiums. Our custom is to take at least a couple of chelas for a game in a stadium in the country. However, in most South American countries the sale of beers has been prohibited for many years. So it was strange to many that the Mexicans sang demanding the sale in the stadiums, a song that went something like this: “Alcohol, alcohol, we want alcohol. We have come to the Middle East to see Mexico champion. booze, booze.”
Now, to drink inside the matches, you must have VIP tickets, called “hospitality”, which do not go below $950 dollars and up to $180,000 in an important match, inside a suite (or box) of the stadium.
The experience is unique. The Mexican director, José Luis Font, had invited me a year ago to visit those incredible suites in the Arab Cup. For this World Cup, not only have these spaces not gone down in luxury, but it could be the most desired place for any soccer fan —or luxury— during a World Cup match.
In the villas within this area, the Mexicans have been the party and the color. Regardless of the game, they were packed with countrymen who made the cost of the tickets worth asking for literally dozens of beers two hours before and two hours after each game.
Clubs in Doha? Of course yes and many. Of course, a table in the Black Orchid nightclub was sold for at least $3,000 dollars (almost $60,000 Mexican pesos) and it was enough to buy a couple of bottles of champagne.
Perhaps that is why a large number of Mexicans were entrenched every night in club21 (listening to music by Luis Miguel or Molotov) or in the “Champions” bar, since the cost was cheaper than in high-renown hotels.
The alcohol flowed, but the most salvageable thing is that the thousands and thousands of Mexicans have behaved in an exemplary manner. Not a single bad news has reached the national consulate. Great news that had not happened in another World Cup.
If there is alcohol and unfortunately a hangover too.