Three soccer fans' World Cup journey: how much does it cost?

2. Vice president of a fan association

Liu Lei is a vice president of a China fan association. He went to West Asia with China's national soccer team and has stayed there ever since.

With the help of local Chinese, he established a youth training soccer club in Dubai, in which three quarters of the 150 children participating are Chinese teenagers. "I hope I can do something beneficial to soccer, and also this is a way for me to make a living," he said.

Liu said there are only about five Chinese restaurants in Doha, and the average cost of a meal is as least twice as that in Beijing. For example, A mapo tofu dish with rice costs about 200 yuan. In addition, water is more expensive than oil in Qatar. One liter of oil costs 2 riyals, while a 500ml bottle of water costs 1.5.

Liu said more than 40 flights from Dubai to Doha have been added in November, which take one hour to reach their destination. However, the price has risen to 15,000 yuan during the games, while the cost was more than 2,000 yuan before the World Cup.

"Accommodations are too expensive. I think many fans might choose to sleep in the streets. The weather is hot now, so there's no big problem living outside at night," he said.