World Cup in Qatar will have drunk zone for fans to sober up

Qatar’s World Cup chief Nasser Al Khater said Thursday that there will be special sobering-up zones at the tournament for drunk fans.

Qatar is a predominantly Muslim country where public drinking is restricted. It has decided to control public drunkenness by ensuring there are alternatives to arresting and jailing publicly drunk fans.

Fans who end up in the “sobering tents” will remain there until they are clear-headed enough to be released, which comes with a warning, according to The Times of London.

“There are plans in place for people to sober up if they’ve been drinking excessively,” Al Khater told Sky News. “It’s a place to make sure that they keep themselves safe, they’re not harmful to anybody else.”

The sale of alcohol in the country will move from hotel bars to fan zones and outside stadiums during the World Cup.

Qatar has also been under criticism for its anti-LGBTQ laws. The country doesn’t recognize same-sex partnerships and they can be punishable by law. Al Khater has said fans of the LGBTQ community can hold hands and no one would be discriminated against.

“All we ask is for people to be respectful of the culture,” Al Khater said. “At the end of the day, as long as you don’t do anything that harms other people, if you’re not destroying public property, as long as you’re behaving in a way that’s not harmful, then everybody’s welcome and you have nothing to worry about.”

The World Cup begins on Nov. 20 with Qatar and Ecuador facing off in the first match of the tournament. The United States will play its first match on Nov. 21 against Wales.

The U.S. is back in the tournament after failing to qualify for 2018. It is in a group that consists of Wales, England and Iran and will need to finish either first or second in the group to move to the knockout stage.