World Cup 2022: Kettering football fans share their Qatar experience

The decision to make Qatar hosts of this year’s World Cup is one of the most controversial in history – but what has it been like for supporters who have travelled there?

Kettering’s Ross Patrick, 32, and Dan Willis, 33, are among the hundreds of thousands of football fans to have gone to Doha to catch some of the action.

It’s their first World Cup, having been to Euro 2020 in London and Euro 2016 in France, and they were at the Al Bayt Stadium on Friday (November 25) to watch England’s drab 0-0 draw with the USA.

The Poppies fans have stayed in Dubai because of the cost of accommodation in Qatar – but they’ve enjoyed their World Cup trip.

Ross said: "We’ve enjoyed Qatar. We probably believed everything on the news and Facebook but we didn’t see one bit of trouble. It was really well-organised getting out of the ground.

"All of the fans together in the same city, which you don’t normally get, is the biggest thing.

"You get on the trains and you get Ecuadorians, you get Saudis, Senegalese, Argentinians all together which is brilliant.”

Qatar has faced criticisms over its human rights record, especially their treatment of migrant workers, women and position on LGBT rights.

And, unlike many major tournaments, Ross said there does not appear to be a huge contingent of travelling England fans.

He said there are a lot people with England shirts on who ‘don’t really seem to know anything about the players’ and don’t know the songs, making it hard to build an atmosphere.

He said: "The atmosphere is a little bit strange. There doesn’t seem to be that many England fans travelling from home…it’s a bit weird in the ground and a lot of people have been separated.”

Ross and Dan are travelling home tomorrow and will be back in Qatar if England get to the final.

But is football finally coming home?

Ross said: "No, I don’t think it is. I think we’ll be coming home soon.

"Once you get through, hopefully tonight, to the knockouts it can come down to penalties and it’s a bit of luck but I don’t think we’re going to blow anyone away playing the way we play.

"You never know.”