AMMAN—
The
2022 FIFA World Cup, which kicked off in Qatar Sunday and will last for a
month, has revived a number of economic sectors in Jordan, especially cafés,
stores that sell TV screens and satellite receivers, and sports clothing shops,
according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.
اضافة اعلان
These sectors are
witnessing a long-awaited business revival after more than two years of
declining commercial activities. The World Cup has made coffee shops where
matches can be viewed during the day and in the evening in high demand, and
owners of these establishments hope that the event will help them compensate
for losses incurred during the pandemic lockdown.
Shops that sell
receivers offering streaming of encrypted matches see their businesses booming
as even those who do not usually follow football matches join hundreds of
thousands in the Kingdom who follow the World Cup religiously, which takes
place once every four years. The fact that the event is being held in an Arab
country for the first time has added to the euphoria.
Sports clothing
stores joined the ranks of businesses seeing a surge in sales. Jordanian fans
are lining up to buy shirts of their favorite international teams or players,
keen to wear them before going to attend the matches en masse, whether in cafés
or at home.
Owner of a local
café, Ahmed Al-Asouli, said he wished every day of the year would be a World
Cup event, because of the positive benefits to his field of work.
He said the
number of café-goers started to grow with the start of the Qatar World Cup,
with fans coming in large numbers to attend the matches. Most smoke hookah and
hot and cold beverages.
Khaled Al-Khatib,
owner of a sports equipment store, said that business has doubled since the
start of the
Qatar event, as sales of teams shirts and other paraphernalia have
surged.
He said that
since the start of the World Cup, fans have started buying flags of
participating teams and the shirts of their favorite players, which boosted his
sales, stressing that the World Cup in Qatar has helped revive his shop’s sales
and that of all other sports stores.
Iyad Issa, a football
fan, said he prefers to attend matches in a café, in the company of friends,
because of the festive atmosphere, a change from the days when football matches
were watched at home during the lockdown.
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