When people purchase tickets to the World Cup, their main reason for attending is to cheer on their country in the hopes to win soccer’s biggest prize. But when some downtime arises, what other attractions are offered?
In Qatar, a camel pageant took center stage as one of the World Cup’s sideline attractions. The event, known as the Mzayen World Cup, was designed to bring cultural awareness to World Cup visitors.
“This is our culture. This is from long time ago, from our fathers and grandfathers,” Jassim al Kuwari, part of the family that owns this year’s winning camel, said. “Today is a competition, a beauty competition. We like these camels. We give them names. It’s like a family.”
The camel Nazaa’a won this year’s top prize, overcoming several preliminary rounds and hundreds of other camels to win the pageant. She was one of 15 camels who competed for the crown and did so in style by wearing bejeweled collars draped with strings of gemstones.
“I thought our camel was better than Ronaldo and Messi,” Al Kuwari said.
Spectators looking to view the event are greeted by a camel jingle “Welcome to the Camel Competition” and are also served Karak, a spiced tea with milk. Owners and their families get to sit in an air-conditioned luxury tent with red velvet chairs and a glass wall to watch the competition unfold.
The third-place, runner-up and winning camels all receive trophies, with the winner also walking away with a hefty $55,000 prize.