With fans or without them, the 2022 World Cup will go ahead – football coach

SS: Hey, alright, you know what? Recently I talked to a great orchestra conductor Gianandrea Noseda and he told me about his experience, how hard psychologically it is to play to the empty halls. I also heard this really famous Russian piano player Denis Matsuev saying that performing in a hall without an audience is an experience you would not want to repeat. So I suppose fans also are a crucial part of any sporting event, right? So when the team is playing to empty stands, how does that affect the gameday morale of the squad?

HH: It’s different between cultures. Actually, in football it’s different between cultures. If you look at games in especially Germany and England, the part that fans play is huge. In other countries, not so much. Here in Qatar, we don't have that many fans because of the heat, so it really doesn't affect a lot football players in Qatar. I think it's different between cultures how much the fans influence the game. And it's also different between players, Sophie. Some players really need the atmosphere to get motivated.

SS: So, okay, because I was thinking, before the virus started sometimes sports teams would actually play to empty stadiums. For instance, if one of the clubs was disciplined for something, and every time I saw that I thought, without people in the seats - what is the point of all of this? In your opinion, does playing sports such as football, soccer have any real point when there’s no one watching?

HH: No, but we know that all ball games more or less are live on TV. So as a lot of people are watching on TV, but it doesn't feel the same, of course, it doesn't feel the same. And then if we look maybe to take the positives out of this, and as a coach, you always try to find the positive points of every crisis and you are looking for the players who are self-motivated and don’t need the atmosphere to get motivated. So you're always trying to produce this kind of element in the players so that they don't need something outside to get motivated to play the game. But I think  at least this sport - football - is driven by media. It's driven by media and money a lot. So every league has their games live on TV, so we know our fans are watching the games. So we are playing, of course, for them, but I hope most players are playing because they love the game. So, yeah. Is it worth it? I'm asking everyone. I think it's worth it. Because I love the game.

SS: But you know, I think another really big problem for professional sports teams is that no spectators means no tickets income. And with big competitions cancelled, no ticket sales, all that had to have hit the sports industry really hard. I mean, what will this virus-induced money drought, I would call it, do to sports as a whole? How damaging will it be?

HH: Well, it depends on how you look at it. There are two sides to everything. And there's been a lot of talk about the financial side of this crisis, and I think all athletes, all teams have to reset the strategies, for sure, they have to reset the strategy. And I know the situation now is bad for some, but in the long run, I hope this crisis is going to do good, at least for the football. Because like I said before, it's driven by money, maybe we can rewind and we can unwind this effect and go a little bit back to the basics or back a little bit to the roots. So, for example, I think now at this stage, clubs will go back to looking at their own talents, will go back to producing their own players instead of looking for players somewhere else. So instead of scouting, they’ll go back to coaching. There is a little bit that the industry is more like you look for talent somewhere else, but you don't look inside. So I think this will get people to reset that strategy and I hope they will look more inside. Then we’ll develop more younger players, we will see more younger players. And what that will bring us is we will have more players that love the club they're playing for. They love their club. So if you're raised in one club and your ambition is to play for this club. So I hope we will see in the end more motivation, more heart from the players who are playing, not the mercenaries who are bought from everywhere around the world to play for clubs. So instead of scouting, we’ll go to coaching. And probably in the end in football, I think, the people who will probably suffer the most are the scouts, the agents, because probably teams will be looking less for players from abroad or from other teams, they will be looking more inside.

SS: But what do you think will happen to the ticket prices? Do you think the prices will go up? Will there be a hike in it for sporting events?

HH: I don't know. I don't really know. It depends on how this epidemic will progress. I think there will be fewer people interested while the epidemic is going on. If we can control the epidemic, I think more people would like to come to events because they miss it. They miss the atmosphere on the match day or on the event moment. And if you take, for example, the World Cup in Russia, if the epidemic had been going on probably not many people would have wanted to go all the way to Russia for this. So it depends on the progress of the epidemic. If we control it and maybe eliminate it, then I think people miss these occasions. When they come they meet, they live there this moment like we did in Russia.

SS: But I want to come back a little bit to the musical analogy with which we started the talk. You know, brass players in orchestras right now because of the pandemic got a lot of flak, because they play by breathing and therefore, you know, they can be spreading an infection very efficiently. In football, players clash, they tackle, they grab each other, breathe on each other, they climb on each other's heads. I mean, the contact is close and very physical. So every game, if you think about in terms of the pandemic, is a dangerous situation for everyone, isn't it?

HH: In a way it is, yes. It's always a risk to meet anyone on the street. It doesn't need to be on a football pitch or in an orchestra. It can be in a bus, in an airplane, whatever. So it's a risk, but I think in sports, they're taking it really seriously, they're taking it carefully there. For example, here we go to our COVID test every four days. So they are monitoring everyone really well. So at least we feel that we are taken really good care of and we are protected. But I think you can catch the virus still. So, yeah, this is a risky time we live in.

SS: I mean, you can catch the virus everywhere, but you’re more likely to get infected if it's a lot of people together touching each other. So I'm thinking, for sports teams, why go on during the pandemic at all? I mean, why not just give it a little rest? Football is a very beautiful game and it means a lot to a lot of people including me. But it's not like an essential thing that you just can't live without for like a year.

HH: You can say this about many things in life. You can probably live without a lot of things. But you want to live, you want to enjoy the moments, you want to enjoy what really motivates you and makes you happy. You want to have these things in life. So if you can do it in a protected way, in a careful environment, then why not continue? You mentioned before the pianist. Why should you play music if it's an empty room? He loves music, he likes to play music. It is the same for football or whatever sport you're doing. I hope you're in the sport because you love it. And you don't want to stop to do the things you love. 

SS: Heimir, athletes who actually had their eyes set on the 2020 Olympics now have to wait for one more year to give their best shots. And one year really doesn't seem that big of a deal, which is supposed to give athletes some extra time to rest, recover, train. But I've also heard some athletes comparing this forced rest period to a physical injury that actually throws you out of shape for quite some time. How do you see it? Is this rest period very traumatic for an athlete or they can make good use of it?

HH: I think you can use every moment, not only like this, every moment in life - you can use it to your benefit. For example, I only can take my situation and this is so different from people to people how they do it, from club to club how they do it. What we did was we had three months of individual sessions. So I went to the pitch with only one player or two players. So during all these three months when we stopped playing, I could do individual sessions with every player. So we use this more on an individual basis. So we try to improve every individual. There was more work for the coach, yes, but again, it gave us and gave the players a huge benefit. So we could develop each individual and I think for an athlete who is going to the Olympics, he can do both, he can take the rest, maybe he needs a rest, or he can use the time to do even more work and prepare himself even better. So we used it in a constructive way. We kept on going, we trained for the three months we were not playing, and then you can get closer, you can help the player both physically and psychologically, if you're close to him every day, if you meet him every day, so you can give each individual much more of your time, then you could do normally. So it just depends on how you want to play your cards. But this is the situation and you should try to make the best out of the situation. Yes, you can be negative, you can stop everything and stop doing the things you love. Or you can just find a new pathway to express what this will be about and then try to find the positives in the negative environment. 

SS: You know, many visionaries from very different fields, whether it’s science or art or politics that I've been speaking to in the past three months, they talk like you — that we should find new ways to do the things that will love to do but at the same time, they all speak about the fact that life will not go back to normal anytime soon, at least for a couple of years. Some of them even say that there will be a new normal, there will be no return to the life the way we used to know it. Do you have any idea what the new normal for sports may look like?

HH: No, because it all depends on how we can tackle this pandemic, this virus. So if we can find a vaccine, then, of course, we will go probably more close to the normal. But again, a lot of things will happen until, hopefully, we find a vaccine for it. A lot of things will have happened. So I think there will be a new norm in my sport. Hopefully, it will be more driven by the game itself, not the industry, not the money, not the market. Hopefully, it will change football in this way. So we will go closer to the roots of the game. 

SS: So you're currently in Doha where the 2022 World Cup will take place. Give us some inside information, what concrete steps do organisers undertake to make this world cup pandemic-proof for teams, for fans, for everyone? 

HH: It is a good test now for Qatar. If this pandemic continues up to 2022, it’s a really good test for them. My first impression is how they do it here is it is really professional. For example, they are playing the League, the First Division and the Second Division here, they are playing the league without a lot of infections or COVID-19 positive people. Of course, it has been here like everywhere else in the world. I think they are trying to adjust and prepare as well as they can. And regarding the facilities they are doing a really good job and I know they went to Russia a lot during the last world cup.  And I think this is why we are playing and not stopping — of course, this is not one of the big leagues in the world, — but I think more or less we are playing because they are trying to prepare in the best way they can. If this continues, so they are least now ready and they know how to work in this environment. 

SS: Do you think an event like World Cup can really be pandemic-proof? I mean, it's all about mingling in very close quarters after all. I mean, take that away and you will take half the fun away as well.

HH: It depends on where you are. I think a lot of people anyway will watch World Cup on TV. I know, it's the biggest sporting event on TV in the world, so fans or no fans that the World Cup will be played. So the format of the competition we will have to see hopefully like I said, everything will be ok, but at least Qatar is trying to prepare as best as they can to be ready to whatever situation will be in three years or almost two years. So yeah, I get what you mean. For fans on the premises, it’s once in a lifetime opportunity to go to Russia and Brazil to live the moment, to be on the stadium is something you will remember all your life. Maybe it will not happen but at least the facilities are ready to receive guests, but if not, then no question that the tournament will be played and played on time. I think, if this still continues, football will be used to the new situation. So, for example, now the Champions League is played behind closed doors, in a tournament form, like this World Cup, without fans, so I don't see any reason why this would change. This is then going to be more like a TV sport than a sport in front of you on the pitch. A lot of clubs will suffer because they get their income from people coming to watch the game. 

SS: You know, so many things became internet-based during these virus times. Can staying fit or training for a game also be internet-based? I mean, if a team can’t get together, athletes can still train at home, have online sessions with their coaches, for example. Is that significantly worse than your regular process? I mean, can the internet offer an alternative in sports like it did in so many other fields?

HH: Yeah, I think so. I think so at least you can do meetings, you can do things like this, you can do one on one with players. And I think in the future, this will be more normal than it is today. So again, the ones who are the quickest to adapt to the new situation will be the one who will be on top in the end. So, for sure, technologies are changing the game anyway, this is changing coaching as well. So, yeah, I think we can do more online coaching and we will do more online coaching in the future.

SS: You know, I know, for instance, that Spanish La Liga, they are broadcasting real players playing virtual football, and racing sports are enlisting real drivers to compete in computer racing simulators broadcasting it like a real race, for instance. Do you think video game simulations can be enough to keep the fans engaged and interested while we're waiting for the real thing to start over, resume?

HH: At the moment no, I don't think so. I think it was just the need to have something on TV. There were no sports whatsoever on TV. So people tried to find whatever to get people to watch sports on TV. But for sure video games will improve like they have improved in the last years really fast. And I think we will see more of the two intertwined. So video games will be closer, always more visual like the real game, so probably, in the end, you won't know the difference. The video games now are so real, and we can use these games to help coaching and people will be playing and watching even video games competitions for sure. 

SS: Heimir, thanks a lot for this talk. It's been great talking to you. It's actually very inspiring to hear someone say that we should always stick to the things we love no matter what around us is going on. And hopefully, we can all get through this pandemic and come up better people out of it and better football players as well. Thanks a lot for the chat. Take care of yourself and I hope we'll talk soon in a normal environment.

HH: Thank you, Sophie. Always nice to see you.

SS: Same here. Take care. Bye.