The country of Qatar must have heard Chris Rock‘s abstinence opus, “No Sex (In The Champagne Room).” The government just let the world know if visitors aren’t married and plan on getting it in while attending World Cup festivities there will be penalties.
The austere Islamic country’s local leadership reportedly is enforcing a ban on strict sex for unmarried visitors and fans when the games are in Qatar this year.
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar kicks off on Monday, Nov. 21, at the Al Thumama Stadium. Senegal takes on the Netherlands in Group A to set off the global event, followed by games hosts Qatar against Ecuador at the Al Bayt Stadium.
No Sex. No Champagne. No Room.
England will also feature on the first day, with their Group B match against Iran scheduled eight days after the Premier League shuts down. The final will be played at the Lusail Stadium in Doha, the capital and most populous city of the State of Qatar, a week before Christmas on Sunday, Dec. 18.
Qatar is known to be conservative, like its Arab neighbors in the UAE. As a rule, premarital sex is illegal in the country, which follows Sunni law.
In Qatar, Zina laws criminalize unmarried sex, reports The Pulitzer Center. It is based on “Islamic legal tradition that classifies sex outside of marriage, pregnancy out of wedlock, and adultery as crimes that are punishable by imprisonment of up to one year.”
Additionally, Muslim offenders are given an additional penalty of flogging, while married Muslims may be sentenced to death by stoning. Unmarried fans caught smashing during the World Cup reportedly could face up to seven years behind bars.
Locked Up Abroad
Talk about locked up abroad, and if the past indicates, Qatar does not play that.
Human rights groups are calling for Qatar to stop criminalizing sex outside marriage and end its aggressive enforcement of so-called “love crimes” after forcing women on a Sydney-bound flight to undergo invasive medical examinations in 2020.
”Sex is very much off the menu unless you are coming as a husband and wife team,” an anonymous person in Qatari law enforcement told The Daily Star. “There definitely will be no one-night stands at this tournament. There is essentially a sex ban in place at this year’s World Cup for the first time ever. Fans need to be prepared.”
No Drinks
Additionally, there will be no drinks at the World Cup, to the surprise of many fans who come to the games to get trashed and enjoy their experience.
However, alcohol isn’t illegal in Qatar, but there is a reported zero-tolerance for drinking in public, and being drunk in public is a crime. Qatar is also stringent on drugs, recreational or otherwise. Fans will have to remember the experience of someone like Brittney Griner, who is accused of attempting to bring her vape pen into Russia.
In Qatar, the penalty for something like that is death, so the stakes are high to get high.
With soccer being notorious for national pride and generally a boozy hook-up time, Qatar is putting the clamps on the World Cup party.
