FC Bayern Munich players train during their Winter Training Camp at Aspire Zone yesterday.
DOHA: FC Bayern Munich will face Qatari team, Al Ahli SC, in a friendly match on Aspire Zone Foundation’s pitch 05, at 5.30pm today. It marks another day of the FC Bayern Munich tour to Qatar, which has seen hundreds of local, regional and international fans flock to Aspire Zone every day to watch the German team’s football stars in action. The team concludes their annual winter training camp tomorrow.
Furthermore, Aspire Zone Foundation will organise a press conference for FC Bayern Munich’s coach, Jupp Heynckes, at 12.00noon today at the Mövenpick Hotel Al Aziziyah Doha.
Some players had to miss the last few sessions due to slight inconveniences. After catching a slight cold, defender Joshua Kimmich missed the team’s training session on Thursday, and stayed back at the hotel to rest.
Meanwhile, goalkeeper Sven Ulreich has missed the last few sessions after sustaining a finger injury, but is expected to return to training soon. Striker Robert Lewandowski attended Thursday’s session briefly and did a few exercises separately from the team in order to help with a kneecap injury that was sustained earlier this year.
The training sessions attracted Qatari VIPs and German tennis player, Jan-Lennard Struff
The Ambassador of Qatar to Germany, HE Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, attended the team’s training session on Thursday morning. Sheikh Saoud said: “We’re very happy to welcome FC Bayern Munich in Qatar for the eighth year in a row. The world-class facilities that Qatar has worked tirelessly to build, especially in Aspire Zone and Aspire Academy, has made hosting such elite training camp possible.”
“Aspire Zone has become a sporting hub for various training camps that happen each year, attracting various teams from all over the world and Paris Saint-Germain concluded its training camp a few weeks ago. In addition to Bayern Munich, the Tunisia national football team is in Aspire for another training camp. The winter weather is really special in Qatar and is one of many factors that makes coming to Qatar to train more attractive for international players.”
Meanwhile speaking about Hamad International Airport’s (HIA) official platinum sponsorship of the German team, HIA Vice-President Commercial, Abdulaziz Al Mass, said: “This new partnership with the German club stems from our vision and strategy to have partnerships with elite international sports clubs and a wide fanbase. FC Bayern Munich’s matches have a viewership of more than 500 million people, so the partnership has economic benefits for Qatar, and builds on the country’s efforts to invest in sports and attract investors to Qatar.”
While in Doha to participate at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2017, German tennis player, world No. 44, Jan-Lennard Struff attended the training session on Thursday.
“This is my fifth time in Qatar, and I’m always impressed with its facilities. I’ve heard about Aspire Zone Foundation from European media outlets and very good things are being said about it. I’m a Borussia Dortmund fan, but I love football and I watch Bayern’s matches at the Champions League. It’s great to watch their training and get some common tips from the players on how to improve athletic performance,” Struff said.
Former Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen, Algerian player Ahmed Reda Madouni, also attended the training sessions and praised Aspire Zone Foundation’s facilities.
