Video: So the design for Qatar’s new World Cup stadium looks like a giant vagina

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIIXWn_m41c&noredirect=1

It remains to be seen if the designers will make any changes before the World Cup itself, but the original plans for Qatar’s new World Cup stadium has certainly got tongues wagging.

It’s nearly a decade away but the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is already shrouded in controversy due to, for example, a potential move away from a traditional summer start date due to the extraordinarily hot climate, reports of dodgy dealings in the bidding process and of shameful treatment of migrant workers trying to get the infrastructure ready in time. It was back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons again recently when design firm AEMON unveiled plans for a 40,000 all-seater Al Wakrah stadium that will look familiar to anyone who has come across even the most basic study of the female human reproductive system. According to the blurb under the YouTube video above, the design was “inspired by the dhow boat that carried generations of local fishermen and pearl divers, the stadium weaves together Qatar's past with its progressive vision for the future” but they can dress it up (or undress it, under the circumstances) any way they like, it looks like a vagina and has been promptly ridiculed all over the internet since the plans were made public. Of course, we’re not so small-minded that we would take the opportunity to make a number of cheap jokes at the designers' expense, but needless to say, players who do end up playing in the stadium will no doubt go down easily with the slightest of invitations, while you can expect to see goalkeepers flapping at crosses on a regular basis. Scoring, will of course, expected to be pretty high in all games played at the grounds, while goal-poaching strikers will be sniffing for any possible opportunities in and around the p-spot. Wait, we take those last two paragraphs back, they were a little below the belt weren’t they?