Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Qatar upgrades land border to handle 4,000 football fans per hour

By Pramod Kumar
A sign directing visitors to the FIFA Fan Festival in Qatar. The World Cup begins on November 20 Reuters/Hamad I Mohammed
A sign directing visitors to the FIFA Fan Festival in Qatar. The World Cup begins on November 20

Qatar’s Ministry of Interior has announced how it will process the thousands of World Cup fans expected to cross the Abu Samra land border in the next two months.

The crossing between Qatar and Saudi Arabia has been upgraded and extra passport counters have been added, said the state-owned Qatar News Agency, citing a ministry spokesman. Abu Samra can now handle more than 4,000 people per hour.

From November 1 until December 23, Qatari residents with a QID can enter the country as normal at the crossing, as long as their vehicles have a Qatari numberplate.

Visiting football fans with their own private vehicles must have an entry permit from the Hayya portal. The permit is valid for one-time entry and users are barred from driving in certain areas.

Fans who have tickets to attend one match or more within 24 hours can enter and exit at Abu Samra with the Hayya one-day permit. A hotel booking is not required.    

Visitors travelling on buses will also need a Hayya permit. They should proceed to the arrival terminal to finalise their entry measures and get on Qatari buses.

Commercial trucks will only be allowed to use the Abu Samra crossing at night – 11pm until 6am – from November 1 to December 22.

Humanitarian cases that do not hold Hayya cards can enter Qatar through airports only and should submit applications through the ministry’s website, the news agency added.

World Cup fans will also be arriving by air and sea. All commercial flights will land at Hamad airport while charters and private jets will arrive at Doha airport. Cruise ships will dock at Hamad port.

The FIFA World Cup begins on November 20 with a match between the hosts and Ecuador at the Al Bayt stadium in Al Khor. The final will be on December 18 at the Lusail stadium in Doha.

Latest articles

Saudi esports Savvy Games Video length: 05:07

Saudi Arabia plays the long game in a high-stakes market

Saudi Arabia has so far channeled $38 billion into the esports sector through its Public Investment Fund subsidiary Savvy Games Group. This includes high-profile acquisitions such as the $4.9 billion purchase of the Monopoly Go developer Scopely and the $1.5 billion buyout of ESL FaceIt Group, one of the world’s largest esports companies. Critics have […]

Mashreq Bank sells Neopay

Mashreq sells majority stake in NeoBank in $385m deal

Mashreq Bank has sold a 65 percent stake in its subsidiary IDFAA Payments, more commonly known as NeoPay, in a deal worth $385 million. The Dubai-listed lender sold the stake to Bahrain-headquartered alternative asset manager Arcapita Group Holdings Limited and Turkish fintech company Dgpays SARL, according to a bourse filing. It said Mashreq would retain […]

The global titans in the cloud computing market are jostling to get a foothold in Saudi Arabia

Global cloud platforms offer Saudis data protection promises

Saudi Arabia’s cloud computing market is heating up as global players find a footing in the country with promises to secure government information.  Saudi Arabia has set aside $18 billion to become a regional leader in cloud computing, the Saudi Data and AI Authority said this week, allowing foreign companies to open data centres.  Saudi […]

The company will develop a 1GW solar power plant and 100MW battery storage project

Egypt’s first hybrid solar project to break ground next year

Norway’s renewable energy producer Scatec will begin work on Egypt’s first hybrid solar power and battery storage project in the first half of 2025. The company has signed a US dollar-denominated 25-year power purchase agreement with the state-run Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company for a 1GW solar power plant and 100MW battery storage project. Financial details […]