Doha in the eye of “Libé”
For the 2022 World Cup, our special correspondents tell the sidelines of this controversial competition. Today, the air conditioning that Qataris use and abuse.
“You will tell us if there is air conditioning in the stadiums.” Before flying to Qatar, this is perhaps the sentence that was thrown at me the most, often accompanied by a strong encouragement from my relatives to always carry a sweater in my bag to avoid catching cold. To these benevolent friends, I often replied naively that no, everything will be fine because anyway the competition has been moved to winter, that the thermometer should remain below 30 degrees for the majority of the World Cup and therefore that it will not be necessary to cool the stadiums. To support my point, I quoted Fifa which explained before the World Cup that the famous air conditioning should only be used during the first two matches of the day, namely those at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. here in Doha, and only if the outside temperature was really too high to play football.
Deserted stands
After nearly a week of going from stadium to stadium, the conclusion is however clear: it’s freezing in the stands. I made the bitter discovery of it on Sunday, for the opening match between Qatar and Ecuador. Meeting at 7 p.m., 26 degrees expected at the end of the afternoon, I naively show up at the Al-Bayt stadium, north of Doha, in shorts and a T-shirt. It took me very badly.
As the minutes passed, the jackets quickly came to the press gallery to replace the T-shirts. I was very happy to have thought of putting mine at the bottom of my bag, unlike the journalists with whom I shared the table who finished the meeting with the World Cup colors scarf offered by the organization on their shoulders. The temperature was so low that even the Qataris complained about it, using it as an argument to leave the stadium well before the end of the game.
Chilled streets
Since then, no matter where or when the meeting takes place, a fresh wind always blows in these XXL open-air enclosures. Inside some stadiums, the air conditioning comes from huge wind tunnels nestled at the top of the stands. In others, it’s under the seats that emerges a little cold air that freezes my buttocks. The sweater has become an essential working tool. With one exception: the blessed stadium 974, removable enclosure and ecological guarantee of Doha where air conditioning has not been installed in the stands.
In general, Qataris use and abuse air conditioning and its use is not limited to stadiums. Public transport, restaurants, supermarkets… It is everywhere and often far too strong. We were surprised with a colleague to growl at the same time when entering a subway entrance, taking the full brunt of an icy wind in the face. Worse still, as in France where it was until recently authorized to heat the terraces in winter, here some streets and cafe fronts are cooled. A rather wealthy French expatriate, whom we met while waiting for a bus that did not deign to arrive, even explained to us that he had installed an air conditioner on the beach at the end of his garden so that he could spend his days off with his feet in the sand in the middle of summer without melting under the heat. heat. In total, 60% of Qatar’s electricity is used in its cooling. For sobriety, we’ll go back.