AP

Qatar have to convince the world that visitors can wear anything, drink anything and have a good time at the World Cup.

Doha – Qatar won over Fifa with a promise that a World Cup in the Middle East would be good for football. Now they face what could be an even harder task: Convincing skeptical fans who fear the desert nation will hold a sweltering, boring and alcohol-free tournament.

Many fans wrongly believe Qatar has the same draconian social restrictions of Saudi Arabia, or the violence that plagues Afghanistan and Iraq.

Twitter was alive with such fears immediately after Qatar was awarded the 2022 tournament Thursday. Some fans suggested Qatar would keep women out of stadiums and many fretted they won't be able to buy a beer anywhere in the country.

They might be stunned to find a largely safe, cosmopolitan capital where celebrity British chef Gordon Ramsay has set up shop, malls are filled with designer goods and the skyline rivals any in the United States. Women are free to work, drive and cheer on their favourite football team, as they did during last month's Brazil-Argentina friendly. Drinking is allowed, but mostly restricted to ex-pat havens.

Still, this country of 1.6 million is no Paris or Rio or even neighbouring Dubai – and Qataris seem to want to keep it that way. Drinking and dancing is limited to the handful of raucous bars and nightclubs in four- and five-star hotels, public affection is usually tolerated but occasionally punished, while bikini-clad swimmers only began appearing on beaches two years ago.

Most understand, though, that the country will have to open up further with the World Cup coming and find a balance between the modern and traditional. Organisers, for example, have already promised to allow drinking in designated fan zones and Qataris have resigned themselves to the sight of scantily-clad foreigners strolling through their streets – something that is frowned upon now.

“I never wanted the World Cup in the first place because of the girls and the drinking. It's against our religion,” said Mohammed al-Sayegh, a 16-year-old Qatari dressed in full-length white thobe worn by most men.

But like many of his friends shopping at the Villagio Shopping Center – complete with an ice skating rink and canal network with gondolas – al-Sayegh now supports the bid as a way to boost the country's standing on the international stage.

“We want to take the World Cup but we can't take everything,” he said. “We can show the world that we can preserve our culture even if we host such a big event.”

Another Qatari shopper in the mall, 21-year-old Hassan al-Emadi, said he was willing to take the “good with the bad” that would come with the World Cup.

“The good will be that other countries know Qatar is a peaceful place and has the capacity to host big events,” he said. “The bad is the drinking in the streets. By 2022, there will be a new generation and when they see people acting like this, they will think this is the Qatar. It will be a challenge to keep our traditions.”

Most agree the challenge will be all about changing perceptions of this Gulf country, which first came to the attention of Westerners as one of the Pentagon's Gulf partners during the US-led battles to drive Iraq from Kuwait in 1991 and later hosting the U.S. military's command center for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The country still hosts U.S. warplanes.

As recently as the 1990s, Qatar was a sleepy, port city which over the past quarter-century has transformed itself into one of the world's richest nations thanks to the discovery of vast oil and gas reserves. It's also a media hub for the Arab world as the home of the Al-Jazeera network, which is backed by Qatar's ruling family, and has become one of the hot spots in the Gulf for sporting events, including a European Tour golf tournament, men's and women's professional tennis tournaments as well as the 2006 Asian Games and upcoming 2011 Asian Cup in January.

Ruled by the Al Thani family without any opposition, there is no doubt that Qatar will make good on their commitment to spend $42.9 billion on infrastructure upgrades and $4 billion to build nine stadiums and renovate three others. All those stadiums, Qatar say, will have a state-of-the art cooling system that will keep temperatures about 27 degrees C (81 degrees F). Similar cooling systems will be used at training sites and even fan zones.

Qatar have to address not only questions of their openness but also about their location in the volatile Middle East and the thorny question of Israel. Like most Arab nations, it has no diplomatic relations with the country.

Bid chief executive Hassan al-Thawadi promised Israel would be allowed to participate if they qualify and earlier said fans from all nations would be welcome.

“We are a very, very hospitable place that welcomes people from all parts of the world,” he said. “Bringing the World Cup to the Middle East now ... will feature to the world that the Middle East is home to a lot of people, it's opening its arms to the rest of the world.”

Al-Thani also said the country was making strides in promoting women's sports, noting how they would soon be starting one of the first women's football leagues in the Gulf.

“This is another perception, another perception that women are oppressed in the Middle East and this is a wrong, wrong perception,” he said. “We hope with the World Cup being awarded to Qatar, we can change that.” – Sapa-AP