England World Cup hotel in same district as 'nightly raves' festival site

England’s hotel at the World Cup will be down the road from a music festival where “nightly raves” will see Fatboy Slim, Calvin Harris and David Guetta perform.

Gareth Southgate’s squad are booked to stay at Souq Al Wakra in Al Wakrah, south of Doha, where they will be two miles away from Aravia by MDLBEAST with acts performing every day of the Qatar tournament after November 21, when England face Iran in their opening match.

Aravia’s slogan for their evening events is “Step off the pitch and onto the dancefloor” with the shows running from 8pm until 2am. Time Out Doha have billed them as “nightly raves” where DJs will perform on a 17-metre stage with up to 5,500 fans attending.

British artists Fatboy Slim, Calvin Harris, Tinie Tempah and Jorja Smith are scheduled to play at the festival, with Guetta another huge name to perform. Qatar is hosting other music festivals during the tournament, including Daydream held at Doha Golf Club, but Aravia is the biggest for renowned artists. The standard tickets have been sold for 269 Qatari Riyal, the equivalent of £65.

Southgate’s squad will be a little further down off the main Al Wakra Road but the noise from the festival will be too far away to impact on England’s players, with Souq Al Wakra also enclosed by high walls and offering privacy.

"It feels it is in the middle of nowhere and it's on the beach. What more do you want?" said former England captain David Beckham on The Overlap podcast when visiting the base. "What you look for is tranquility more than anything. As much as you want a little bit of atmosphere around the hotel, at a tournament all you care about is the games and it is the perfect set-up."

During the European Championships last year, England were based at St George’s Park where they prepare for home qualifiers and friendlies, meaning this will be the squad’s first tournament camp away from home since they were based in Repino near St Petersburg in Russia four years ago.

Southgate’s squad were in a bio-secure bubble for the Euros and this time around he is weighing up how much time players can spend with their families while not putting the squad at risk to Covid.

“We would have a preference that families can engage, because that’s better for everybody,” he said recently. “But there is that decision around how much risk do you want to take, because if you lose a player or two players, for them that may be their only opportunity to play at the World Cup, and I’m sure their families will realise that as well. It is a decision that we’re talking with the senior players about, and they’re realising how complicated that is.”