German Soccer Wives & Girlfriends Face Major World Cup Travel Drama
The German soccer team hasn't even landed in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup and there's already major drama brewing.
European news outlets are buzzing over the news that it's entirely possible the Germans will not have their infamous WAGs -- wives and girlfriends -- gang on the ground in the Qatari desert when the action finally gets started November 20.
The issue: a lack of hotels.
According to media reports, German team officials are full of despair over how to get the girlfriends and wives into the kingdom. Between costs and availability, there's a very good possibility girlfriends Sophia Weber (Kai Havert's girlfriend), Izabel Goulart (Kevin Trapp's girlfriend) & Sara Gündogan (Ilkay Gundogan's wife) will be forced to stay home, according to Bild, Germany's top news outlet.
LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 18: Izabel Goulart walks the runway at the David Koma SS23 show during London Fashion Week September 2022 on September 18, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for David Koma)
Meanwhile, the English WAGs, led by gang leader Katie Goodland, Harry Kane's wife, is said to have gone on a reconnaissance mission to check out Qatar's Banana Island which features nearly $4,000 per night floating rooms that sit on stilts above the sea. Each villa comes with its own infinity pool and a villa host to prepare food, according to The Mirror.
Would the English WAGs be willing to double up with the German WAGs in the villas?
Bild reports that German team leaders Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller and Joshua Kimmich are scheduled to meet with soccer officials later this week to hammer out a solution.
"In general, many friends and family would come along, but it is very, very difficult as far as hotels are concerned – which I have noticed," Kimmich told reporters.
A quick check of hotel prices for four and five-star resorts during the first week of the World Cup in Qatar shows prices won't be cheap for the German wives and girlfriends / Google
"I hope can do something there. As a private person, it's not so easy to get hotels.
"A World Cup is a huge thing for friends and family and of course I like to have my family with me."
As if the hotel thing isn't a big enough issue, soccer fans are in for a huge wake-up call when they get to Qatar and realize they're being served non-alcoholic Budweiser Zero. It will be the only 'beer' fans will be allowed to purchase inside the stadiums at a cost of around $7 per beer (based on current exchange rates; the pound is tumbling).
Perhaps it would just be a smarter move for supermodel Goulart and her fellow wives and girlfriends to stay home and jump on Zooms as needed.
Quick math on the German World Cup hotel dilemma:
• There are 23 players on the German National Team roster
• If you allow each player to bring a wife or girlfriend and they stay at the Banana Island resort, you're looking at a daily hotel bill of $62,100 for one WAG per room.
• $434,700 for a week
• $1,863,000 for the rooms if you have them stay for a month
• Figure in another half-million for food, transportation, support staff
Even if they run a tab up to $3,000,000, it seems like a reasonable number to pay unless the German national team is worried about optics as the country's energy crisis widens. It's even getting difficult to make toilet paper in the country.