First look inside horrifying £200-a-night World Cup fan villages in middle of desert

We've got our first look inside the spot where plenty of fans journeying to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup will be staying and unfortunately, they look an awful lot like rows of shipping containers.

It's all gone a bit Fyre Festival really as Qatar have set out a number of 'fan villages' in the desert designed to accommodate all the football fans who will be flocking there in less than two weeks.

Qatar is not a big country, and we're starting to see what Sepp Blatter meant when he admitted letting them have the 2022 World Cup was a 'mistake'.

The nation has already had to draft in multiple cruise ships to use as floating hotels so people can actually have a place to stay, since there's nowhere near enough hotel space in the country to put up with the incoming influx of football fans.

Now we've got to have an early look at one of their fan villages which manages to be both eye wateringly expensive and not much to look at.

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What they call the 'Fan Village Cabins Free Zone' isn't very free at all, costing you 740 Qatari Rial per night, or nearly £200.

For that bargain price you also get a whopping two bottles of water a day, which considering you'll be living in the desert doesn't sound like very much.

Since you probably don't want to stay just one night in Qatar for the World Cup, your actual bill to stay at this spruced up container storage facility will be much higher, especially if your country has a good tournament.

For your money you get a small box which looks decently shiny on the outside as it gets bathed in the baking desert sun, while being undeniably grim-looking on the inside.

Student halls undoubtedly come to mind when seeing the stiff and bland bed set ups.

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Imagine living in one of those for the World Cup, sweating to death inside a metal box while forking over almost £200 a night for the privilege.

Mercifully, it is within walking distance of a metro station so you can get out of there as soon as your nation has crashed out of the World Cup.

If you don't want to spend your downtime shut up in your little metal box there is a big outdoor cinema screen where you can sit on a beanbag and watch other countries play football.

Fifa World Cup Qatar Accommodation Agency

There's also a tennis court and a fitness centre for those who think out in the middle of the desert is the perfect place to be doing strenuous activity.

What isn't going to be there is somewhere you can get a proper drink to cope with the reality that for the next couple of weeks at least you're going to be living in a metal box.

With more than a million people expected to descend on Qatar for the World Cup, the place really does not look ready to host a tournament like this.

Topics: Sport, Football, World Cup

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker