FROM LEFT: Saud Al Attiya, Legacy Director of Qatar 2022, Abdulrahman Al Dosari, Chief Commercial Officer of Qatar Stars League (QSL), Hani Taleb Balan, Deputy CEO of QSL and Ghanim Al Mohannadi, Chairman, QSports during a press conference at the QSL headquarters yesterday. PICTURE BY: SALIM MATRAMKOT
QSL launches new football community programmeDOHA: Qatar Nations Cup, an exicting football tournament, and part of a community programme has been been launched by Qatar Stars League (QSL) in partnership with QSports, yesterday.
The new community football programme is aimed at engaging all communities in Qatar.
Supported by the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, the QSL unveiled its new programme during a press conference at Al Bidda Tower to capture the imagination of both current and potential football fans throughout Qatar.
The Qatar Nations Cup, will encourage key communities to get involved in football. The 16-team tournament represents a mixture of nations from all over Qatar.
The nations competing are Qatar, Algeria, Egypt, France, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Mozambique, Northern Europe, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Spain, Sudan, Syria and Tunisia. The format will be 11-a-side.
The tournament begins on March 1 with the group stages running until March 8. The final will be held March 30.
The community programme consists of four elements which ensure QSL clubs have the opportunity to engage with a diverse range of communities in Qatar. As well as the Qatar Nations Cup, Workers Association Football Cup, Compound Sports and Mall Sports, will also be included.
The Workers Association Football Cup has been designed to encourage the workforce of key corporations to play and follow football in Qatar.
Sixteen teams representing different companies will play 11-a-side matches in four groups of four. Matches begin on March 15.
In the third programme, the QSL has targeted the many residential compounds as the perfect environment to foster key relationships.
The fourth and final initiative involves mall sports, where the QSL can engage the different social communities.
Abdulrahman Al Dosari, chief commercial officer for the QSL, believes it is an initiative which could transform the way people feel about football in Qatar.
He said: “This is an inspiring programme aimed at getting more communities in Qatar involved in football.”
“This is something we really believe can work. It is important we focus on people who are here in Qatar already and people who will arrive in the future. We must work hard to build relationships all the time.
“It will take time but we have the commitment to invest the time to make it work. We must start now though. We have to work to show people what it is like to fall in love with football,” he added during the press conference.THE PENINSULA
