FROM LEFT: Dera Al Dosari, Chief of Competition, Qatar Cancer Society (QCS), Abdulrahman Al Dosari, Chief Commercial Officer, Qatar Stars League (QSL), Ehab Amin, Vice President Commercial of Qatar Airways (QA), and Ibrahim Al Bloushi, Deputy Chief of Competition of QCS, look on during a press conference hosted by QSL to announce the community football tournament in partnership with the QCS and QA at Al Bidda Tower yesterday. PICTURE BY: KAMMUTTY VP
DOHA: The Qatar Stars League (QSL) along with the Qatar Cancer Society (QCS) yesterday launched a community football tournament in partnership with the QSL and Qatar Airways.
The community football tournament organised by QSL and QCS will not only promote the fundamental benefits a healthy lifestyle can bring, but will also highlight the impact football has on lives as a universal language all over the world.
Teams from all over Qatar were invited to participate in the tournament, which will be played amongst local communities.
Each team will consist of players of the same nationality, who will represent their countries such as Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria, Syria, Qatar, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon, Palestine and many more countries.
The tournament will consist of an 18-team knock-out which will be played at Al Markhiya Sports Club between February 4 to 9.
The final will be held on February 19 at Al Sadd Stadium alongside the QSL match between Al Sadd and Al Rayyan.
Speaking at the press confeerence, which was followed by the draw yesterday, Abdulrahman Al Dosari of QSL, said: “This is a great collaboration between both companies and institutions. We are committed to our responsibilities. We are very glad to work with the Cancer Society to try and help prevent the disease. It is important to promote the philosophy of prevention.”
Meanwhile, Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said: “Qatar Airways is delighted to be the Official Sponsor of this very special sporting event, bringing together teams from different backgrounds and nationalities across Doha in celebration of our diverse community and supporting a worthy cause, the Qatar Cancer Society.”
He added: “Sport is, and always has been one of the pillars of Qatar Airways’ strategy and football in particular will continue to feature largely in our marketing activities this year and going forward. It’s been quite a football-themed past few months, with our recent tie-up with Qatar’s national soccer team and the tremendous news that from this year we will form an alliance with the world’s biggest football club FC Barcelona.”
Dera Al Dosari, of the QCS said he is pleased that QSL are committed in raising awareness on health issues.
He said: “We are proud the QSL want to focus on the general health and well-being of people in Qatar.”
He added: “The number of people who suffer from cancer has risen here, partly because of the huge influx of foreigners and partly because people are living longer. Since the QSL are focused on sport and living well, we want to try and educate people about cancer in a much less scary way than they are perhaps used to.”
During yesterday’s press conference, the draw was conducted in which two the tournament will consist of two groups, A and B.
Group A fixtures: Lebanon vs Palestine, QSL vs Sudan, Qatar 2 vs Nigeria, Egypt vs Syria then Al Markhiya.
Group B fixtures: Algeria vs Kenya, Jordan vs Morocco, Iraq vs Iran, Spain vs Qatar 1 then Tunisia.
THE PENINSULA
