Ex-Miss Croatia says Qatar needs to respect her way of life as she risks prison arrest
A former Miss Croatia has said people should respect her way of life over her choice of outfits at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Take a look at what she's been up to while following the competition:
Ivana Knoll is a huge fan of her native Croatian team and often goes to games dressed in the colours of her country's flag, with a whole range out outfits adorned in the red and white check marks of Croatia.
She shot to fame after being spotted in the crowd at previous World Cups and has journeyed to Qatar for her third tournament in a row, but some of her outfits have come in for criticism as they've clashed with the nation's dress code.
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While tourists don't have to dress like the locals they are still expected to cover their shoulders, upper arms and legs.
As following the rules is the 'duty of all those who reside in the state of Qatar or enter its territory' breaking them risks arrest and prison.
Qatar's tourism board has told fans to 'show respect for local culture by avoiding excessively revealing clothing in public'.
Fortunately, Ivana hasn't had any trouble in person for her outfits since arriving in Qatar, which left her 'surprised' after the dress code seemed so strict.
The model reckons that in the end they 'decided to avoid problems about that' as it would be 'unfair for all fans', especially after taking the 'very bad decision' of 'cutting beer from stadiums'.
Ivana said she would have been 'super angry' if the Qatari dress code had been enforced.
She said: "First I was thinking if the World Cup is happening there, they for sure will allow everything to make it comfortable for all fans without any of their restrictions.
"Then I heard about the rules and I was shocked. In the dress code you're forbidden from showing your shoulders, knees, belly and neck. I was like 'omg I don’t even have clothes covering that all'."
However, not everyone has been so lenient with her choice of outfits as she's received some criticism on social media.
Since arriving in Qatar the model has posted a wide range of pictures and videos on Instagram featuring her Croatian flag outfits, including a swimsuit and bikini decked out in the Croatian flag patterns.
Some people have taken against this, telling her she should 'respect other's culture' and claiming she was 'not welcome' in Qatar.
Others said she 'must respect our customs, traditions and religion', and Ivana has said those criticising her ought to respect her way of life.
She said: "I think they need also to respect our way of life, our beer lovers, our religion and on the end me wearing a bikini, because I am a Catholic from Croatia who is here because of the World Cup."
Knoll also said she prefers the last two World Cups to the one currently being played in Qatar as she 'prefers the World Cup to be in big countries' where 'fans can travel around to other cities and places' in between watching the football.
The model also found changing over to a winter World Cup to cope with the fierce Qatari heat 'a little strange' as everyone's so used to the tournament being a summer thing.
Ivana has also run into problems with the way the 2022 World Cup has been organised, as plenty of her friends have struggled to get their Hayya cards which are needed to make it into the stadiums.
Having been in Brazil and Russia to cheer on her beloved Croatia, she said the last two host nations 'both organised better World Cups than this'.
Knoll told us it took her 16 days to get her Hayya card, and that was after a 10 day stretch where she spent 'all day and all night on the phone and email with customer service'.
Not everyone she knows managed to even get their cards as she knows people who couldn't come to the World Cup as they 'didn't get their Hayya even now after 25 days'.
Still, she's hoping that this time Croatia can go one step further than they did in 2018 and win the World Cup.
Topics: World Cup, Sport, Football, World News, Fashion
Joe Harker