Friday 25th November 2022 7pm – The FIFA World Cup – Stadium Khalifa, Doha
If the walk from the Metro drop off at the Al Thumami was long (1 3/4 miles) then the trek to the bus park was even longer. I’d manage to clock up 10,000 steps just getting to and from the public transport hubs at this game alone. With every step, the opportunity to see four games in a day was disappearing, but I wasn’t prepared to give up just yet.
Al-Thumama to Khalifa, where Netherlands were playing Ecuador was a 15 minute drive away. If they were running the Stadium to Stadium buses I could still make it. I flipped my coin as my decision was made – it was on.
Finally, I arrived at the Stadium to Stadium bus queue. Plenty were being loaded up for the long trip north to Al Bayt for the England game but there were none to Khalifa. I asked a volunteer, he made a quick call on his radio and within a minute a bus arrived. I boarded and we were off – my own exclusive transport. My luck was in. I had twenty minutes to get to the ground and buy my ticket.
The resale website prices were falling quickly. The lowest price ticket had been $270 earlier in the day, now they were $135. Ten more minutes and they would dip below $100. Timing would be crucial.
Following the bus route on my phone I could see we were within a hundred yards of the stadium, with some red traffic lights coming up. I asked the driver if I could hop out but he said he couldn’t and would be fired if his manager found out, so instead I ended up half a mile up the road in the bus park.
Ten minutes to kick off….$110.
Seven minutes to kick off….$103.
Five minutes to kick off….$99. Boom. I acted quickly, got the ticket in my basket and checked out. But then I got a payment refused message. It seemed my bank had flagged the transaction as “suspicious”. Two minutes to go. I got another card out but had to wait for a text “verification” message and nothing was forthcoming. And then, just like that, my hopes were extinguished. The ticket portal shut at kick off.
A few hours earlier, the Current Mrs Fuller had sent me a story that had appeared in the Spanish press about fans without tickets attending their group game on Tuesday against Costa Rica had been let in at half-time free of charge if they had a Hayya Card. Could my luck return and that be true? Alas, if there was ever an omen I wasn’t going to get in was the fact that the Netherlands scored after just 6 minutes – I don’t do early goals in the games I see. Alas, it seemed the story was an urban myth (if there can be one after just 72 hours) and there was no chance of getting in, or even buying a ticket from the ticket collection points despite the clear banks of empty seats I could see on the game on my phone, despite the 44,833 official attendance (capacity 45,857).
The stadium is certainly impressive from the outside. Khalifa International Stadium had hosted a long list of momentous sporting events since its inauguration in 1976 and had seen a new tier added for the tournament. Overlooking the stadium was the impressive 980ft Torch Tower, the tallest building in Qatar housing a hotel that wasn’t for the likes of you and I, with its rooftop bar and panoramic views of the city. I make that last statement after trying to see if I could enter and have a drink at the bar which may give a view inside. Of course nobody else would have had the same idea….I got as far as the approach road before being politely turned away by security.
I could continue to hang around, but with the England v USA game being held at the Al Bayt, which had already seen significant issues with fans getting there on time for previous games, I took the executive decision to go back to Souq Waqif and get a bus from there, leaving plenty of time for the final game of my trip. Perfect plan, right?
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