Well I don't know about the distance from the seats to the field, but it felt like I had to walk several hundred miles to park my car. Ample parking is unfortunately not the regions specialty thought unfortunately... but hey at least it's free, unlike some places where parking is sometimes almost just as much if not even more than the ticket itself....
Lots of past WC stadiums have been poor too. This one looks bad, seats really far away. I hope the others are better.
It does look particularly bad. I tried to find some info about dimensions, but failed. I turned up this Doha News story from back when the redesign was announced. https://dohanews.co/qatar-unveils-designs-third-world-cup-venue-khalifa-stadium/
It looks like even with their essentially slave labor the Qataris were too cheap to build a decent stadium.
Here's what it looked like before renovation... personally I like thought the atmosphere was better back then, more intimacy.... but I guess a lot of that has to do with how far up we were sitting... next time, I'll try and be a little closer to the action....
That's just your point of view (which in no way it implies if it is better or not). Fact is, that not everyone thinks about the issue, the same. Some prefer shoe box type of stadiums. While lots of others (me included), we prefer big multiple discipline type of stadiums, for this type of events. As there is no way, to have all fans feel happy about this sort of issue, a WC, must have stadiums which represents most type of styles for stadiums. And this one (the one posted here), represents the multiple discipline type of stadium.
one thing to keep in mind is that the Khalifa International Stadium is not just a soccer specific stadium, it's Qatar's national sports stadium. They play more than just football there, hence mulit-purpose design. The world cup final will be held at Lusail Stadium, so maybe that will be built with a more football specific design in mind.
Yes, I knew it right away, once I saw it. Here in Chile, most of our stadiums are multiple discipline type of stadiums as well (we also have a few soccer specific type of them, but given our particular reality, multiple discipline type are lots more useful). The main diference in our stadiums, though, is that we reduce the space to its minimum expression, of all the area that goes beyond the last athletic track, which makes that stands get to be more closer to the grass pitch, in the middle. The other thing is that we don't usually cover the athletic track with any carpet. Yeah, but that's us (others prefer to cover it up).
I support useful stadiums as opposed to white elephants. However, the problem with this type is the fans are so far away which is a bummer if you are in the stadium but also a bummer for TV. When a goal is scored or a hard tackle made, or another incident, the fan reaction isn't part of the event. Some of this happens anyway with the World Cup being in neutral venues, but you miss the reaction of fans when the ball crosses the line, or the rage of fans after a controversial call. It is why World Cups feel so sterile at times. But hopefully the other Qatar stadiums are more soccer specific.
I've never heard of anyone before that prefers watching a football match in a stadium that has a track around it. You're the first. There’s a reason that such stadiums are a dying breed.
I respect anyone's opinion but I just don't see how anybody could prefer a multi-purpose stadium with the stands far from the pitch to a football-specific "shoebox" stadium with the stands close to the field. Not only are the fans further away, but the intensity level is never the same.
If your seat is in the lower rows at either end, you see literally nothing that happens in the half of the pitch furthest away from you.
that can be true of any stadium. If your seats are too low and behind the goal, you're not going to see the other end well. But that's also not a reason to make a blanket statement that I'd prefer to be in a huge multi-purpose stadium because <1% of seats directly behind the goal have a bad view of the other end.
Not only that (this is all about a personal point of view). If you happen to be anywhere too close to the pitch, all the action happening close to the border lines, at either sides from where you are at, to get a better view, you must look over everybody else's heads sitting at both of your sides, and if fans also happen to stand up or waive flags or banners, it makes it almost impossible to see much, close to those lines. And if you happen to be not close to the corners, means you will not be able to see much of the the execution of corner kicks as well. The furthest apart from the border lines you are at, the more of the pitch you will be able to see, which allows you to watch better how teams stand in the whole pitch, from a strategic point of view, something not easy to watch, if you are too close to the pitch, as being to close to the pitch, you lose easily that sort of perspective of the game. Besides not all happening in the pitch is what makes stadium experience something special. The broader apart stands are on relation to the pitch, also allows you to see everything also happening at other stands diferent to those where you are at, all of which enhances the stadium experience.
Nah, man. You don't see more if you're farther away from the pitch. You see more if you are higher up (all other things being equal). I wish I had whatever it is you're smoking when you're at a live match.
Somehow true, but that's also because the higher you are at, you're also watching the pitch further away from it. [QUOTE="BocaFan, post: 35482637, member: 32586" I wish I had whatever it is you're smoking when you're at a live match.[/QUOTE] You don't really need to smoke anything. Just leave the booze (or replace it with a soft drink), when attending to a football match, and you will definitively be looking lots clearer, after.
You're talking non-sense. So if you're at a really small ground - one which doesn't even have seats - you're gonna stand 200 meters away from the touchline, across the street, to get a better view? That'll be good practice for Qatar 2022.
If there is only one row of fans, of course not. Problem only begins, when there are lots of rows of fans, where the angles to the borders of the pitch, are very small. The closer you are to the pitch, these angles become even smaller, specially to the border of the pitch that is at your same side (or to the side where you are sitting). The more apart you are from the pitch, these sight angles also increase. That's a fact, where I'm not inventing anything. This issue is also the reason why in shoe-box type of stadiums, all sides usually aren't straight and slightly curved instead (to increase the sight angles of fans), an issue that also has big diferences in height between 2 continued rows. Multi discipline stadiums, as fans are further apart from the pitch, the diference in height between 2 continued rows doesn't need to be that big, because that sight angle problem almost doesn't exist. I finished regularly drinking alcohol for over 30 years ago (I do drink smaller quantities from time to time, but never again to the point where you start losing your senses), so I've been practicing it since very long now.
A significant diplomatic row has erupted this morning in the region. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt and Yemen all cut diplomatic ties with Qatar. While the underlying political motivations are better discussed elsewhere, this spat - if prolonged - will significantly increase construction cost for Qatar 2022 infrastructure, further bringing into question all the promised deliverables.
Yep, and I managed to save a killing by taking FlyDubai to Moscow for the Confederations Cup final instead of Qatar Airways.... looks like I'm gonna have to fork out the cash now. :-( With Real Madrid now competing, let's hope they sort this out before the Club World Championship in Abu Dhabi next December.
I think the underlying political motivations are important here -- as they are reportedly in regards to Qatar's support of terrorism. That those 5 countries took that stance is quite a statement. I don't want to pull this into a discussion as to whether or not that rationale is true --- but if that is the stated reason, FIFA has yet another reason to reconsider their decision. That it is out in 2022 will help them avoid making a decision of course, but the optics ESPECIALLY FOR SPONSORS is quite, quite bad.
That also relates to one of the main foundations of Qatar's bid for the World Cup in the first place. They said that they were one of the most stable countries in the region. Well the region has spoken... ...and they are saying no, you are not.