It is still too early to call it a complete PR disaster for Qatar, but it is fair to say that things are not going as well as the House of Al Thani had hoped.

The last-minute U-turn on selling alcohol in stadiums will certainly have caused considerable damage to Doha's proposed bid for the 2036 Olympics, which, as I have written before, is the event that Qatar's ruling family really want to be awarded.

The problem is not that beer is not available to fans in the stadiums, which was always going to be an issue in this Muslim nation, but because the Qatari Royal Family agreed to it being allowed and then changed its mind at the last minute. It made them look like unreliable partners, something which will concern the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its sponsors.

It looked underhanded and sly, putting in jeopardy FIFA’s multi-million sponsorship deal with Budweiser. Luckily for FIFA, however angry AB InBev, the brewing company which owns Budweiser, is at the moment, it seems unlikely they will terminate their sponsorship agreement. 

They know the next men's World Cup in 2026 is due to take place in the United States, along with Canada and Mexico, and it would be a major own goal to let a rival brewer obtain the rights for that tournament.

There is growing anger and resentment in Qatar by the fierce criticism in the western media of the country's attitude towards the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) community and its approach to the human rights of workers.

Normally at the FIFA World Cup or Olympic Games, criticism of the host nation subsides once the sport starts.

Yet, at Qatar 2022, partly because of FIFA’s controversial decision to ban the captains from a group of European nations wearing the "OneLove" armband, this has not happened. 

Several teams, most notably Germany, have refused to allow the issue to be forgotten and it continues to dominate the news agenda.

The Qataris are confused by the sustained criticism they are facing as homosexuality is illegal in the country and the prevailing culture views it as immoral. Article 285 of Qatar’s Penal Code bans same-sex sexual activity for both men and women, with a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

Qatari officials I have spoken to about the subject, point out that law has been on the statue books for many years, including when they were awarded the World Cup by FIFA in 2010, so why it has suddenly become such a big issue now, they wonder? 

It is a surprisingly naive point of view and you are left pondering what kind of advice they have been receiving from the highly-paid PR firms and consultants they have employed in the build-up to this tournament. 

There was similar criticism of Russia before the last FIFA World Cup four years ago over LGBTQ+ issues but once the first ball was kicked, the subject disappeared. In fact, it disappeared to such an extent that, by the end, the BBC were calling Russia the "perfect hosts" and asking if the country had been "misjudged".

It seems unlikely that such sentiments will be extended towards Qatar once the final whistle has been blown and the trophy lifted.

Qatar have not been done any favours either by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and his horrible and offensive press conference on the eve of the tournament. His bizarre claim that he appreciates how LGBTQ+ community and poorly treated migrant workers in Qatar feel because he was picked on at school for having freckles displayed a level of verbal insensitivity that only former United States President Donald Trump could rival on the world stage.

It deepened suspicions that football’s world governing body was prepared to defend at all costs the decision to award the tournament to Qatar in first place even though it was suspected from the start that corruption had been the overriding factor, something which has since been proven beyond doubt.

The irony is that Infantino, as someone not officially connected with FIFA when the decision was taken 12 years ago, had the opportunity to move this agenda on if he had acknowledged the fact that the bid process had been corrupt but that it was too late to do anything about it and he would make sure that everything was done in the future to ensure there would not be a repeat.

As well as fans' anger at lack of beer in the stadiums, there have been reports of furious supporters forced to pay £175 ($210/€205) a night to stay in hastily erected sauna-like cabins with leaky toilets, poor food and six-hour queues to check-in.

Fans have also complained about the ticket app not working and them missing matches they have paid to attend. 

It is not just off the pitch that things have not been going well for Qatar. 

When the hosts played Ecuador in the opening match of the tournament on Sunday (November 20), thousands of "fans" left the Al Bayt Stadium early in the second half when their side were losing 2-0. It meant the image of tens of thousands of seats empty long before the final whistle was broadcast to hundreds of millions of television viewers around the globe. 

To rub salt into the wounds, two days after that opening game when Qatar were clearly out of their depth, bitter regional rivals Saudi Arabia pulled off one of the greatest shocks in World Cup history by beating two-time winners Argentina - Lionel Messi and all - 2-1 to spark joyous scenes on the streets of Riyadh.

The World Cup would not even be taking place in Qatar if it had not been for the IOC’s decision in 2008 not to include Doha on the shortlist for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which were awarded to Rio de Janeiro. The snub led to officials in the Arab country switching their attention to bidding for the World Cup, something I revealed exclusively.

IOC President at the time Jacques Rogge claimed it was because the October dates chosen by Doha to stage the Games were outside its recommendations, but insidethegames has been told by several members that they persuaded the Belgian to block the bid because of fears that the Qataris would use its huge financial muscle to influence the vote.

The Olympic Games was always a dream of Qatar’s former Emir, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, widely credited with modernising the country and turning it into an oil and gas super-power, more than the World Cup.

Before this tournament kicked-off, everything was falling into place for Qatar. Even Russia’s invasion of Ukraine seemed to have helped their bid as more Western European countries turned to it to help provide an alternative supply of gas. 

But, as things stand now, Doha's dream of hosting the Olympics looks further away than ever.

Olympic sponsors would have a number of reservations about them being awarded the Games, including doubts over Qatar being a dependable partner after what happened to Budweiser and the fear of a backlash from customers over the country’s attitude towards the LTGBQ+ community.

Even current IOC President Thomas Bach, who, as a former chairman of Ghorfa, the Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is naturally sympathetic towards Qatar, must be privately conceding that the Olympic Movement would be saving itself an awful lot of trouble if it avoided Doha in 2036.