Dua Lipa and Rod Stewart have spoken out against performing at the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the country’s human rights record.

Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers and criminalisation of same-sex relationships has come under increased scrutiny in the run-up to the football tournament, which begins this weekend.

And with a growing number of artists confirmed to be performing in the country during the World Cup, Lipa took to Instagram to deny reports she had signed up to play the opening ceremony.

“There is currently a lot of speculation that I will be performing at the opening ceremony of the World Cup in Qatar,” she said. “I will not be performing and nor have I ever been involved in any negotiation to perform.

“I will be cheering England on from afar and I look forward to visiting Qatar when it has fulfilled all the human rights pledges it made when it won the right to host the World Cup.”

Stewart, meanwhile, revealed he turned down more than $1 million (€968,000) to perform in Qatar last year.

“I was actually offered a lot of money, over $1m, to play there 15 months ago,” Stewart told The Sunday Times. “I turned it down. It’s not right to go.”

It was confirmed last week that BTS member Jungkook will perform at the opening ceremony, taking place next Sunday (20 November) at the Al Bayt stadium, and contribute to the tournament’s official soundtrack. Diplo, Calvin Harris and Sean Paul will also be performing at the Fifa Fan Festival, which will run over the 29 days of the international football showpiece.

“I look forward to visiting Qatar when it has fulfilled all the human rights pledges it made”

Meanwhile, David Guetta, Fatboy Slim, Steve Aoki, Afrojack, Hardwell, Rae Sremmurd, Tinie, Jorja Smith and Tyga are among the international stars due to perform at MDLBeast’s Aravia concert series on the purpose-built Al Rihla stage in Doha.

LGBTIQ+ people and women continue to face discrimination in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal and can be punished by fines, prison sentences of up to seven years and even the possibility of the death penalty.

There are also significant concerns over rights for migrant workers, with a 2021 Guardian report finding that more than 6,000 migrant workers have died in Qatar since it won the right to host the World Cup 10 years ago.

Meanwhile, women are subject to a system where they remained tied to their male guardian – usually their father, brother, grandfather or uncle – or for married women, to their husband.

According to Amnesty International, they need their guardian’s permission for key life decisions to marry, study abroad on government scholarships, work in many government jobs, travel abroad until certain ages, and receive some forms of reproductive healthcare.

In addition, family laws continue to discriminate against women by making it difficult for them to divorce and divorced women remain unable to act as their children’s guardian.

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Calvin Harris, David Guetta, Fatboy Slim and Steve Aoki head the line-up of international dance acts announced for MDLBeast’s Aravia concert series, which will take place in Qatar during the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The nightly raves will be held at the purpose-built Al Rihla venue in Doha from 21 November to 18 December. Tickets start at QAR199 (€57).

Other artists will include Afrojack, Hardwell, Rae Sremmurd, Tinie and Tyga, alongside regional stars Amr Diab, Ayed, and Hamaki and up-and-coming Saudi talent such as Biirdperson, Cosmicat, Dish Dash and Vinyl Mode. Performances will kick off at the end of each match during the international football tournament.

MDLBeast also promotes the Soundstorm festival and XP Music Futures conference in Riyadh, with Aravia marking its first event to be held outside Saudi Arabia.

“Our mission goes far beyond the music scene in Saudi Arabia”

“Our mission goes far beyond the music scene in Saudi Arabia,” says Talal Albahiti, chief operating officer and head of talent booking at MDLBeast. “On the contrary, it is aimed at growing the music industry region-wide and ensuring we create a sustainable music industry, inspiring and empowering the entire ecosystem.

“Between our annual flagship event Soundstorm in Riyadh and Aravia in Doha, we are thrilled to travel out of Saudi for the first time and be hosting these incredible music events.”

FIFA has also announced plans to stage free concerts starring “top global and local music acts” as part of a reimagined Fan Festival at the World Cup. The festival will be held at one central location at Al Bidda Park in Doha.

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FIFA is to stage free concerts featuring “top global and local music acts” as part of a reimagined Fan Festival at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The festival will be held at one central location at Al Bidda Park in Doha over the 29 days of the international football tournament, which runs from 20 November to 18 December.

As well as featuring live broadcasts of every match on a giant screen, it will include music, food and drink, games, culture and sponsorship activations.

“To support our mission to make football truly global, accessible and inclusive, we are thrilled to introduce a new vision for the entertainment experience surrounding future FIFA World Cup events,” says FIFA president Gianni Infantino. “The FIFA Fan Festival provides an incredible opportunity for fans to come together beyond the stadiums and the on-pitch action and experience football in new and unique ways.”

“It will be the centrepiece of our FIFA World Cup – the first to be held in the Middle East and the Arab world”

The event builds on the FIFA Fan Fest, which appeared at four editions of the World Cup and welcomed almost 40 million visitors across five continents.

“There will be something for everyone at the Qatar 2022 FIFA Fan Festival at Al Bidda Park,” adds FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LLC chairman, HE Hassan Al Thawadi. “With the stunning West Bay skyline as a backdrop, fans will enjoy live matches, a host of musical and cultural performances, and a vast range of food and beverage options.

“It will be the centrepiece of our FIFA World Cup – the first to be held in the Middle East and the Arab world. When fans arrive in November, they should expect a warm welcome, amazing football and a large number of entertainment options. We look forward to welcoming the world in just over 70 days.”

Following its debut in its new form in Qatar, the festival will premiere at the FIFA Women’s World Cup  in Australia and New Zealand in 2023.

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Ras Abu Aboud Stadium, a 40,000-seat temporary venue billed as the world’s first ‘demountable’ stadium, is under construction in Doha, Qatar.

Constructed on an artificial promontory in the district of the same name, Ras Abu Aboud Stadium is being built to a modular design, and partly out of old shipping containers from Doha Port. It is one of eight new venues under construction ahead of the Fifa World Cup football competition in 2022.

The first moveable stadium in World Cup history, Ras Abu Aboud Stadium “will be entirely dismantled and repurposed post-2022, setting a new standard in tournament sustainability and legacy,” according to Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), which is overseeing the Qatar 2022 world cup.

In a tweet sent on Friday (16 October), the SC said the new venue is “slowly taking shape”:

Ras Abu Aboud is slowly taking shape!

Constructed using shipping containers and other modular building blocks, this innovative 40,000-seat venue will be entirely dismantled and repurposed #Qatar2022, setting a new standard in sustainability.https://t.co/m6lhcF4zWE pic.twitter.com/K2VXngc2K0

— SC News (@roadto2022news) October 16, 2020

After the tournament, says the SC, the “modular seats and even the roof will be disassembled and reused”.

What they’ll be reused for, however, is still under discussion: the Qatari authorities note its modular design “could provide the building blocks for another 40,000-seat stadium in a different location, or for several different types of sporting or non-sporting venues”.

The Qatar 2022 Fifa World Cup takes place from 21 November to 18 December, with 32 national teams taking part.

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Fifa’s special-access tickets (SAT) for the upcoming Confederations Cup in Russia will be offered to ‘obese persons’ at no extra cost.

For the first time, those with a body mass index (BMI) of 35kg/m² will join those with disabilities and wheelchair users in being eligible to purchase SATs for the popular football tournament, which acts as a prelude to next year’s World Cup.

According to organiser Fifa (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), those wishing to purchase “Obese Person Tickets [will require] presentation of a signed doctor’s note stating the person’s BMI”.

“For Obese Person Tickets, presentation of a signed doctor’s note stating the person’s BMI will be required”

However, unlike those with disabilities, obese persons will not be eligible for a +1 for a companion.

According to The Independent, Fifa first introduced extra-wide seats for overweight fans at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, which were advertised with a 50% discount if a doctor’s note could be provided.

The Confederations Cup will run from 17 June to 2 July 2017, with the World Cup, also in Russia, following on 14 June–15 July 2018. There will be no concerts in the run-up to the event, with Fifa having banned live music in stadia an effort to prevent damage to pitches.

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Football’s international governing body, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (Fifa), has banned concerts taking place in World Cup stadia ahead of 2018’s tournament in Russia.

Under the new regulations, published on Monday, venues hosting World Cup 2018 matches will be off limits to non-footballing events for two months in advance of the start of the competition. The only exemption is for stadia which have “Fifa’s explicit prior approval in writing”.

World Cup 2018 Stadia will be off limits for concerts two months prior to the start of the tournament

The ruling comes after controversy over the state of pitch surfaces at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and the Uefa Euro 2016 championship in France earlier this year. In June the French national team’s manager, Didier Deschamps, blamed a recent AC/DC show for the poor state of the pitch for his team’s clash with Albania at the Stade Velodrome (67,394-cap.) in Marseilles.

“It’s a disaster, but that’s not surprising,” he said. “If you have an AC/DC concert a month before the European Championships— they’re changing the pitch, relaying the turf.”

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