A young Kolkatan played for Portugal against Colombia, alongside an Iraqi and a Brazilian, in Qatar on Tuesday.
Atrim Das, 22, then played for Portugal with two others from China against the US. He played a third match for Argentina with two other Indians against Mexico.
Atrim, a biotechnology student from Kolkata, is in Doha to watch World Cup football. In the Doha Corniche fan zone on Tuesday, he played three futsal matches, along with hundreds of other football lovers from all over the world.
Several fan villages with fan zones have been set up in and around Doha for football fans.
The fan zones have indoor hard courts for futsal and synthetic turfs where mini-football matches are being played. A fan zone also has, apart from food and beverage stalls, a dais for concerts and giant screens beaming matches, which fans can watch for free.
Many Kolkatans, like thousands of other football fans from around the globe, are thronging the fan zones of Doha, during the day and also late at night.
The villages also offer accommodations for thousands of people.
“I didn’t know anyone with whom I played the three matches. When I went to visit the fan zone in Corniche, I saw one could register for futsal matches for free, using a Hayya card,” said Atrim, who arrived in Qatar on November 28 and watched the match between Portugal and Uruguay and the one between England and Wales.
The West Bay fan zone. Picture by Saikat Sarkar
Hayya Card is the entry permit to Qatar for football fans.
Atrim played three four-minute matches, scoring three goals, including one from a penalty. He played for Portugal and won against Columbia 3-2. In his team was a fan from Iraq and another from Brazil.
In the second match, he won 2-1 against the US, playing with two Chinese.
He lost the third match against Mexico, playing for Argentina with two Indians.
“It was fun. One can play as many matches as they want,” he said.
Fifa officials are managing the area, he said.
In the fan zone where Atrim played, there is a small football turf managed by Adidas. It sports a huge image of Argentine star Lionel Messi.
The Corniche fan zone also has several food stalls where sandwiches, burgers, shawarma and other delicacies are being sold.
“There is also a huge stage where professional artistes are performing every evening. Electronic dance music is played loudly. Everyone is in celebratory mode,” said Atrim.
He said it was easy to reach the fan zones from his hotel at Al Doha Al Jadeeda. “The Hayya card holders can travel for free on Metro. The Corniche fan zone is 17km from my hotel,” he said.
IT professional Saikat Sarkar, another Kolkatan who went to Qatar to watch the Cup action, saw Sunday’s Germany-Spain match in the fan zone at West Bay.
“It was a wonderful experience. The seats were comfortable and the washrooms clean. Coffee and snacks were being sold,” said Sarkar, 57.
“There were more than 100 people, including women, at 10pm when the match started. Children were playing and everyone was enjoying the atmosphere,” he said.
Arup Sen, a 74-year-old retired engineer from Salt Lake, stayed at one of the numerous cabins at the fan village in Zafaran. “The cabins have twin beds, a small washroom and a refrigerator. They are fully air-conditioned and very comfortable,” Sen said over the phone from Hamad International Airport in Doha, where he was waiting to catch a flight back to Kolkata.
“This Zafaran fan village has rows of such cabins. There is a makeshift outlet of a supermarket at the village,” said Sen.