Middle East reporter takes up unique challenge, attends 4 football matches in a single day 

With 4 matches scheduled a day in the group stage of the World Cup, Associated Press correspondent Isabel DeBre wanted to see if it was possible to live football fans’ dream of watching all four matches in a single day. 

Hyderabad: Qatar is a small country with an area of 11,586 km² and a population of 2.7 million, of which around 3 lakh are Qatari citizens and the rest of them are mostly expatriates. It is currently hosting the ongoing 2022 FIFA World Cup, and all the matches are being held in 8 stadiums located within close proximity of each other.

A Middle East news reporter at Associated Press, Isabel DeBre decided to take up the unique challenge of watching all matches in a single day.

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With 4 matches scheduled a day in the group stage of the World Cup, she wanted to see if it was possible to live football fans’ dream of watching all four matches in a single day.

She started her day at 11:22 am from her hotel room in Doha and travelled 30 km to reach the Al Janoub Stadium via metro train to watch the match between Cameroon and Serbia. It took 90 minutes for her to reach the venue from the hotel.

After watching the first match, she took a cab to reach the Education City Stadium, the venue for the match between South Korea and Ghana. It took 40 minutes for her to reach the Education City Stadium from the Al Janoub Stadium.

The Middle East correspondent then reached Stadium 974 to watch the third match of the day. She watched the match between Brazil and Switzerland at Stadium 974 before finally moving to the Lusail Stadium to watch the match between Portugal and Uruguay.

In the process, she was leaving stadiums early to reach other destinations. The only game she stayed in the stadium till the end was the match between Portugal and Uruguay.