Qatar’s sports sector offers huge opportunities not only because of upcoming FIFA World Cup 2022 but many other major sport events slated to happen after the football world cup, said a panel of experts in a webinar.
Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) in collaboration with the Qatari-Russian Center for Cooperation (QRCC) organized a webinar on, ‘Emerging Opportunities in Sports: Qatar & Russia’ and ‘How to succeed in Qatari sports market’. The event shed light of Qatar’s Sport market and discussed opportunities on the road to 2022 and beyond.
The event introduced opportunities in the sports sector in the Qatari market to large Russian corporations, SMEs and start-ups and discussed about the potential collaboration with Qatar which Russian companies can take advantage of the unique sports environment.
Kamel Badawy (pictured), Business Management & Intelligence Director, Aspire Zone Foundation said, “Qatar is in a very strong position in terms of sports and business. There are strong ties between Qatar and Russia related to sports and World Cup specifically. And these ties are rising due to strong participation of QFC by bringing businesses to Qatar.”
“Qatar is a business and sports hub not only because of FIFA World Cup 2022 which is just the beginning. There are a lot of sports events that are happening, and will happen as the 2030 Asian Games are coming. Therefore, there will be plenty of market and opportunities beyond FIFA World Cup 2022. We at Aspire are going towards more than 20 events for sports every year,” he added.
He stressed, Doha is full of opportunities and this is related to sports, not only the World Cup but sports in general. Qatar is awarded the 2030 Asian Games which shows that it is always going to be a sports destination. There are different kinds of companies that the market is looking for to provide services like sustainability, sports performance and wellness, fan engagement, event and venue management, e-sports, data, and business insights, he added.
He highlighted that Qatar provides opportunities for sports tech and sports companies as this hub is within the sports accelerator to showcase product and services.
Laila Khalil Al Jefairi, Vice President, Business Development, QFC said, “Investing in sports sector is part of QFC’s strategy to enhance the contribution to the local economy. Qatar is positioning itself as regional hub for sports with the state-of-the-art infrastructure, and organising more than 100 sporting events yearly and upcoming FIFA World Cup 2022.”
She added, Qatar has created a market full and rich of digital opportunities across the sports landscape. In digital sports we are aiming to attract e-sports, e-gaming, and digital fan engagement. And non-sports technology hub companies such as Sports event management, Sports promotion, Sports financing etc.
Heba Almasri, Managing Director, Qatar SportsTech said, sports is definitely a big factor in the growth of Qatar and Qatar National Vision 2030. Currently, the development and growth in infrastructure is in line with sports.
She said, there are lot of initiatives that are open and willing to help in growth of sports. Qatar SportsTech (QST) is the only accelerator program in the region that specifically focuses on sports technology.
QST brings international companies from around the world with our partners QFC and Aspire Zone, helps them to find their home in Qatar and grow their business regionally and globally. There are different programmes that help with mentorship, investment, office space, workshops, and platforms to learn and accelerate in Qatar, she added.
