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Published: 18:11, November 01, 2022 | Updated: 18:11, November 01, 2022
Qatar World Cup pays fans' flights and hotels for good PR
By Reuters
Published:18:11, November 01, 2022 Updated:18:11, November 01, 2022 By Reuters

This picture taken on Dec 17, 2019 shows a view of the scoreboard of Qatar's new al-Bayt Stadium in the capital Doha, which will host matches of the FIFA football World Cup 2022. (GIUSEPPE CACACE / AFP)

AMSTERDAM - The organizers of the World Cup in Qatar are paying groups of soccer fans to travel to the tournament next month, saying on Monday they are asking them for positive comments on social media in return.

The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) confirmed the policy of inviting groups of supporters to the finals as guests after reports by Dutch public broadcaster NOS, who said on Sunday that Qatar was paying for flights and hotels for a group of 50 Dutch fans.

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The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) confirmed the policy of inviting groups of supporters to the finals as guests after reports by Dutch public broadcaster NOS, who said on Sunday that Qatar was paying for flights and hotels for a group of 50 Dutch fans

In return these supporters have had to sign a 'code of conduct', urging them to post favourable comments about the tournament on social media and to report "any offensive, degrading or abusive comments" by others to the SC, preferably with screenshots.

The broadcaster cited two Dutch fans who said they had been selected by the tournament's organisers as "Fan Leaders", and who added that they had been asked to pick a group of 50 loyal supporters for the free trip to Qatar.

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"As the tournament nears, we have invited our most active fan leaders to personally nominate a small selection of fans to join us as our guests, as a manner of thanking them for their collaboration," a spokesperson for the SC told Reuters.

On its website, the Qatar World Cup describes its Fan Leaders program as a network of around 400 fans and influencers from 60 countries who have offered "insights, research, content creation and message amplification," for the tournament.

The organizers did not say how many fans they had invited, or provide any financial details.

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In its code of conduct, the SC asks the Fan Leaders to agree to incorporate its content in their social media posts and to support the World Cup by liking and re-sharing posts by third parties about the tournament.

People gather around the official countdown clock showing remaining time until the kickoff of the World Cup 2022, in Doha, Qatar, Nov 25, 2021. (DARKO BANDIC / FILE / AP)

It also stated that fans are not expected to be a "mouthpiece" for Qatar, but added it "would obviously not be appropriate to disparage Qatar, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy or the FIFA World Cup".

Belgian and French media have also reported that selected groups of fans from these countries were offered a free trip to the World Cup by Qatar.


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