As the knockout stage of the FIFA Qatar World Cup gets fully under way, the event, the first to be held in the Middle East, has been fantastic.

Exciting goals, spectacular upsets, huge crowds, everyone having a good time – without alcohol. It’s all about the football.

It was said that Qatar would not be ready; that the country is homophobic; people died while building the stadiums; corruption abounds; you can’t host a World Cup in winter.

Now, going into the third week, it is proving to be one of the best World Cups in recent memory and Qatar has done a wonderful job.

What can be learnt here?

You have to respect people’s culture. The media skewered Qatar, saying fans would be in for a horrible experience. It hasn’t turned out that way.

Qatari people have been welcoming and friendly and fans are enjoying the country and what it has to offer.

When someone invites you to their home but insists you take off your shoes on entering, you do just that and are grateful for your host’s hospitality.

The stadiums have been full, some seeing over 65,000 people in attendance. TV audiences have been high. Even the United States is embracing football as a global sport. As many as 15.5 million tuned in to see the United States play England.

FIFA is intent on keeping football a global game and by hosting it in the Arab world has gone a long way in doing that. It too had come in for criticism, but the result will be vindication for FIFA boss Gianni Infantino and his team.

It was said that the stadiums would become unbearably hot with players fainting. That has not happened. They said that LGBTQ protests would severely disrupt the matches – that has not occurred.

Fans would be repulsed by the accommodation – the fans are having a good time and are getting to the games in comfort, finding reasonably priced rooms.

The attempt to smear Qatar and protest that the country is not capable of hosting a World Cup has failed -abysmally.

The truth is, it has been a wonderful festival of football, with fans getting on with locals and even trying on local garments. It couldn’t be better. There is a lot of egg on the faces of many western media professionals who didn’t give Qatar a chance.

There can be little doubt that this much maligned World Cup has proved exciting and fascinating.  Footballing giants Germany, Belgium, Uruguay and Mexico have been sent packing after the group stage.  Argentina and Spain have had frights. We have seen teams from Asia and Africa take on favourites and match them. We are witnessing the balancing of the footballing world order – in Qatar.

A problem for many countries after big international sporting events is how best to utilise newly constructed stadiums. Qatar is offering to dismantle them and ship them to developing countries so they too can host world-class sporting competitions. It is a most generous gesture.

Marhaba.

As-Salaam-Alaikum.

Shukran.