England fans face hour-long trek through desert to watch Qatar World Cup games

England World Cup fans on a fact-finding mission to Qatar faced a long trek through the desert to get to venues.

Supporters on a trip to the Gulf state had to walk a ‘45 minutes to 1hr’ from the £26bn Metro system to some of the newly-built stadiums.

In November/December, when the World Cup takes place, temperatures hit 22/25°C (72/77 °F).

Organisers say the Metro takes fans directly to five out of eight venues. But they will listen to feedback from fans’ groups at test events.

“It was an hour’s walk to get to some of the venues, 45 minutes for others,” one England fan told the Mirror.

“That is just too far, especially in the sort of temperatures you are talking about - even for the evening kick offs.

“It was a struggle - you are walking through a desert.”

Another fan added: “The stadiums are very good, you can’t complain about anything there.

“The air conditioning keeps the temperatures down. But there are teething issues with the transport which will need to be addressed.”

It is believed 10,000 England fans will make the trip to Qatar at various stages of the World Cup. Many have tickets for the 2022 final in case Gareth Southgate’s side can go one better than the semi-final defeat to Croatia at Russia 2018.

Supporters groups have warned it is likely to be the most expensive in history due to ticket, travel and accommodation costs.

Ashley Brown from the Football Supporters Association Fans’ Embassy team said: “This is another World Cup supposedly for the fans where the cost of seeing your team all the way to the final is at least £1,200.

“On top of the costs of flights, human rights concerns and expensive accommodation, a huge barrier for most ordinary fans.”

The cost of attending the 2022 World Cup final is up,