Diary of the World Cup: World Cup 2030 in Gelsenkirchen

Sports show reporter Marcus Bark reports in the World Cup diary about the football World Cup in Qatar, his impressions and encounters.

Update clouds: one even gray. Weather app shows a 40 percent chance of rain on four of the next nine days. Rather, Costa Rica wins against Germany.

Match day minus one. Germany buckles. Sends a player to the press conference despite the – quote (editor’s source known) – “trouble” of three hours in the car back and forth to Al Ruwais.

Al Ruwais is actually not Doha, in fact quite a long way away. Al Khor with Al Bayt Stadium is also not in Doha but in Al Khor and about half as far from Doha as Al Ruwais.

Then there is Ar Rayyan with Education City, Ahmed bin Ali and Khalifa International Stadium, Lusail with Lusail Stadium, Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakra, Al Thumama Stadium in Al Thumama and 974 Stadium in Ras Abu Aboud .

974 shipping containers installed in the stadium

The 974 stadium is so named because Qatar’s international telephone code is 974, so it was built from 974 shipping containers, which will be dismantled after the World Cup is over, along with the rest of the stadium.

But that’s only as an excursus, because all the place names give the impression that the organizers have ignored the capital Doha. With the exception of Al Bayt in Al Khor, all stadiums are in Doha and the fat suburbs of Doha.

İlkay Gündoğan Sports Ground in Hessler

Nevertheless, it’s nice to imagine a World Cup in Gelsenkirchen with the İlkay-Gündoğan-Sportplatz in Hessler, the Stadion 0209 in Erle, the Horst-Schlämmer-Arena in Horst, the Kaiserpalast in Bismarck and the Glück-auf-Pöhlwiese in Schalke.

One of the estimated 453 messages of the day on various channels comes from FC Schalke. Training starts again on Thursday. Sven Mislintat is out in Stuttgart, Tobias Werner is coming to Jahn Regensburg as managing director and in Spain there are rumors that Cristiano Ronaldo is coming to Al Nasr for an annual salary of 200 million euros. This is not in Doha, but in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.