Fans share unfinished, cramped and hot conditions inside shocking £185 a night World Cup fan village
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The World Cup might be one of the biggest sporting events in the world, but the current host Qatar is getting a lot of criticism - and that's putting it mildly.
And the latest bout of criticism comes in regards to the conditions of the 'shocking' £185-a-night World Cup fan village.
As most of us know, when it comes to accommodation, you expect to get what you pay for. And while £185 would get you a pretty decent place to sleep in the UK, this doesn't appear to be case in the fan village.
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Instead, you'll be sleeping in a place that looks more like a building site, rather than the host of a major sporting event, with viral videos showing piles of rubble and ripped up astroturf in the village - which is located in the middle of a searingly hot desert.
But despite appearing unfinished at best, the Rawdat Al Jahhaniya fan village will host thousands of English football fans for the event, which is scheduled to start tomorrow (20 November).
While fans had booked the location under the promise that it would contain luxuries like a tennis court, theatre and fitness centre, none of them appear to exist, as reported by a correspondent for The Guardian.
The outlet also reported how there was a huge amount of sand and rubble next to the accommodation, as well as a giant crater by the side of a tent that will serve as a mosque.
Things are actually so bad, that some fans have gone as far as to compare the fan village to the now-notorious Fyre Festival.
Reacting to footage of one of the tents online, one wrote: "Is this the fifa version of fyre festival?"
"Fire festival 2: the Worldcup edition," added a second, while a third remarked: "like a caravan holiday park."
Contractors who worked on the village have since spoken of how it failed to come together, The Times reports.
"They are rock hard so you might as well sleep on the floor," one said. "I have never been somewhere so uncomfortable.
"We have been here for 10 days and it is a nightmare. It might be OK if you want to rough it for a night or two, but any longer would be dreadful."
Earlier in the week, it emerged that officials in Qatar tried to stop reporters filming in the area, as revealed by Danish international correspondent Rasmus Tantholdt.
He was seen filming before an official put his hand over the camera lens, which prompted the correspondent to ask: "Mr, you invited the whole world to come here, why can't we film? It's a public place.
"This is our accreditation, we can film anywhere we want. No, no we don't need permits."
The officials then threatened to break the camera, prompting the correspondent to say: "You want to break the camera? OK let's break the camera. You're threatening us by smashing the camera."
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Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy – who are behind the organisation of the tournament – later released a statement that said: “Upon inspection of the crew’s valid tournament accreditation and filming permit, an apology was made to the broadcaster by on-site security before the crew resumed their activity.”
Tantholdt also confirmed: “We now got an apology from Qatar International Media Office and from Qatar Supreme Committee.
This is what happened when we were broadcasting live for [TV2] from a roundabout today in Doha.
“But will it happen to other media as well?”
LADbible has contacted a representative of FIFA for a comment.
