"In Germany, fans watched the games on screens in crowded town squares, their roars careening off ancient buildings, or from the banks of rivers, peering at floating, double-sided big screens on barges. At the next World Cup, in South Africa in 2010, people gathered in parks and open-air markets and hotel lobbies and unlicensed, makeshift bars in people's garages. In Brazil, four years later, fans spilled from the bars on the Copacabana or watched in restaurants"
"The reason the 2022 World Cup in Qatar didn't entirely feel like a real World Cup is that those sorts of spontaneous soccer gatherings just didn't seem to be happening, or not at the same scale, at any rate. The absence of hordes of supporters just milling about everywhere contributed to the feeling of being at a Potemkin World Cup. World Cups are a feeling."
"If the shocking ticket prices for the actual World Cup will make it exclusive and inaccessible as is well established in these pages something like a shadow World Cup may nevertheless emerge as an alternative. With a tall wall built around the genuine article, scalable only by a bundle of money, a kind of bootleg version may be fashioned out of the scraps and flashes"
Fans have historically gathered in public spaces—town squares, riverbanks, parks, markets, hotel lobbies, garages, bars, restaurants, and streets—to watch World Cups together. Those spontaneous gatherings create the global, communal atmosphere that defines the World Cup beyond stadium walls. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar lacked comparable spontaneous public celebrations, producing a muted, Potemkin-like feel. The upcoming edition will be unprecedented in scale, staged across three countries and expanded to 48 teams, creating both logistical challenges and new possibilities. High official ticket prices could make the tournament exclusive and inaccessible, but the vastness increases opportunities for informal, grassroots "shadow" World Cup experiences fashioned from bars, public screens, and improvised gatherings.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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