Portugal fans celebrate during a parade in Doha.
Doha: Thousands of football fans descended on Doha Corniche and Souq Waqif at the weekend for a parade donning the jerseys of their favourite teams accompanied by drums and other musical instruments.
The whole area around Flag Plaza had a festive feel with thousands of people, including small children, donning teams’ jerseys, shawls, face paintings and holding flags walking on Doha Corniche, which is already been pedestrianised for the World Cup.
The merry fans enjoying at the Corniche is the trailer before the big show when millions more will arrive for the biggest sporting spectacle to be held in this region.
Brazil fans celebrate.
Argentinian and Brazilian fans outnumbered others as they came out in big numbers and were seen dancing to the rhythms of the percussion team who went on for hours without missing a beat. The other teams, even though slightly lesser in numbers, made it up for that with their enthusiasm and singing their national teams’ songs while enjoying the nice weather and atmosphere.
Argentina fans celebrate at the Doha Corniche. Pictures: Salim Matramkot/The Peninsula
Speaking to The Peninsula, an excited long-time Qatar resident and hardcore Argentinian fan Pravin, said that he is there with his six-year-old child to show their support for Argentina. “This is a rare opportunity for fans like me to witness our favourite stars play in front of us. I have watched the last many World Cups on television and I am very very excited to see the matches live this time in Qatar. The vibe here is frenetic and I and my son were planning quick 15 mins walk on the Corniche and has ended up spending more than two hours. The football vibe was unmissable”
Argentine and Brazil fans were not alone in colouring the Corniche and Souq Waqif in their team colours. A sizeable bunch of fans were seen supporting other World Cup teams like France, England, Germany, Spain Portugal among others.
The Portugal fans were seen having a lot of fun in Souq Waqif and leading them was their fan leader Elisabete Reis.
She told The Peninsula that they were more than 150 happy fans and they had a very good time at the parade.
“We were more than 150 fans and we travelled together from Msheireb station for the metro experience. The whole group together paraded through Souq Waqif, chanting, and raising flags. We challenged other fans to head the ball like Cristiano Ronaldo. Everyone had fun trying that. We also distributed our membership forms and sang many songs accompanied by drums. We had people from all over the world supporting our team and also media covering the event. It was a great experience and we look forward to the kick off,” she added.
The Friday’s parade by the fans on Corniche and Souq Waqif was just a trailer of the bigger show to come as millions of fans are expected to descend on Qatar in the coming days and many interesting activities including entertainment programmes are being readied by the oraganisers for the fans including multiple fan zones. The excitement quotient is going up exponentially and the football vibe is felt all across the country.
