D Chakraborty
Doha: The Qatar Amateur League was started last year in order to use football as a vehicle to socially integrate all nationalities, races and cultures and to create a passionate football fan culture among all communities as the country prepared to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Building on last year’s success, the Qatar Football Association (QFA) and the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy yesterday announced the start of the second edition of the league at a joint press conference at Al Bidda Tower here.
“The creation and expansion of professionally-organised amateur football in Qatar highlights the passion people in our country have for football,” said Nasser Al Khater, the Executive Director of Communications and Marketing, Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy.
“The league represents a tangible legacy built on the principles that football is for everyone. It is further evidence that we are living up to a key promise made in our bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup — to develop amateur football,” he said.
Matches of the Qatar Amateur League will start today. The first edition of the league, which was launched in May last year, saw the participation of 14 teams. This year, 16 teams — including six new sides — will take part in the event. The new teams are: Tadamoon FC, EIS Pear Community, Sudanese Community, Doha Team, Lebanese Community and Latin United.
The Qatar Amateur League is a joint CSR and grassroots initiative of the QFA and the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy. And they are sparing no effort in making this event a success.
“This season, the QFA will be providing a professionally-managed platform for the teams,” said Khalid Mubarak Al Kuwari, the QFA’s acting Executive Director of Operations. Along with that, Aspetar and the Qatar Red Crescent Society will provide medical support for the event.
“We would also like to take the opportunity to announce that the QFA will be launching an interactive and dedicated website for the Qatar Amateur League, which will be used to communicate with the entire football community across all demographics. The QFA will continue in its effort to make organised football accessible to all communities, thus maintaining our motto ‘be part of it,”’ he added.
Al Khater, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy’s Executive Director of Communications and Marketing, also said a documentary on the Qatar Amateur League would be released by the end of this year.
“We are excited to have played a part in capturing this pivotal moment in the development of football in Qatar with an exciting documentary capturing the incredible stories behind the league,” he said.
“The Supreme Committee for Delivery and legacy will continue working with the league to ensure we meet our objective of spreading football culture to all communities in Qatar, fostering a strong culture of participation ahead of hosting the World Cup in 2022.”
The matches will be played in six stadiums — Al Arabi, Al Khor, Doha Stadium, Qatar Sports Club, Al Gharafa and Al Wakrah.
THE PENINSULA
