Sport in Qatar

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Sport in Qatar is primarily centered on football in terms in participation and spectators. Additionally, athletics, basketball, handball, volleyball, camel racing, horse racing, cricket and swimming are also widely practiced.[1] There are currently 11 multi-sports clubs in the country, and 7 single-sports clubs.[1]

The largest sporting event hosted in Qatar was the 2006 Asian Games, hosted in Doha. There were 46 disciplines from 39 events contested. On 2 December 2010, Qatar won the rights to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, thus becoming the first Arab nation to host the tournament.[2]

Football

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Main article: Football in Qatar
Qatar national football team in 2011.

Football is by far the most popular sport in Qatar, and is played and supported by locals and expatriates alike. The country has two tiers of domestic professional football leagues. The top tier, known as the Qatar Stars League, has undergone numerous expansions in the last several years. In 2009, the league expanded from ten to twelve clubs,[3] and again expanded by two clubs in May 2013, bringing the total number of teams in the first division to fourteen.[4] Attendance at QSL matches ranges between 2,000 and 10,000, depending on the popularity of the teams.[5] In a 2014 survey conducted by Qatari government ministries and departments, 65% of the 1,079 respondents indicated that they did not attend a football match in the previous league season.[6]

Al Sadd is the most successful sports club in the country, and have won the continental club competition on two separate occasions. Former Real Madrid and Spain striker Raul Gonzalez played for Al Sadd between 2012 and 2014, and in July 2015 the club announced the signing of former FC Barcelona and Spain playmaker Xavi.[7][8]

Other famous footballers to play in Qatar include: Pep Guardiola, Gabriel Batistuta, Fernando Hierro, and Ronald de Boer.[9]

The Qatari national football team's greatest footballing accolade has been winning the Gulf Cup three times, first in 1992, and again in 2004 and 2015.[10] The youth team also reached the final of the 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship, where they lost 4-0 to West Germany in the final.[11]

Qatar hosted the AFC Asian Cup in 1988 and 2011.[12] It has also hosted the Gulf Cup three times, winning the cup twice.[10]

2022 FIFA World Cup

On 2 December 2010, Qatar won their bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.[2] Beating rival bids from Australia, the USA, South Korea, and Japan, FIFA stated that the Qatari bid ran on a platform of bringing the World Cup to the only part of the world previously excluded from hosting it, donating parts of stadia to under-developed countries in Africa and Asia after the competition finishes, and giving fans the opportunity to watch multiple matches in one day and reduce travel expenses by being the most compact tournament to date.[13]

The local organising committee, the Supreme Committee for Development and Legacy, is planning to build nine new stadiums and expand three existing stadiums for this event. The first stadium to be completed will be the Khalifa International Stadium, due in 2016.[14] Qatar's winning bid for the 2022 World Cup was greeted enthusiastically in the Arab world as it was the first time a country in the Middle East or North Africa had been selected to host the tournament.

The tournament is expected to generate thousands of jobs, with extensive infrastructure required to prepare the country to host the world’s biggest sports games. Official Qatari sources have estimated that the country will spend $120 138 billion USD, which will include new motorways, a new deep water port, a metro system as well as nine stadia and an extensive fan zone.[15]

File:2022WorldCupFlier.jpg
A flier in Doha promoting the 2022 World Cup

As of summer 2015, major contracts have been awarded to a number of international companies, including Foster and Partners, WS Atkins, Arup Associates, and Pascall+Watson.[16]

In addition to the awarding of contracts to international companies, the Supreme Committee announced its intention to support entrepreneurs and SMEs in the region through the Challenge 22 competition. Held for the first time in June 2015, the competition requires anyone inhabiting a GCC country to submit a business plan. Finalists are invited to Doha for two days of intense coaching, before pitching to judges and winning cash and incubation prizes.[17]

To deliver these projects on time the economy and population are expected to double between 2014 and 2022, with the total number of inhabitants due to exceed four million. The need for new housing has given a boost to the construction and real estate sectors, with growth expected to be 9.5 percent according to the Qatar Statistics Authority.[18]

Controversies

Shortly after the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar, the bid was embroiled in controversy, including allegations of bribery. European football associations have also objected to the 2022 World Cup being held in Qatar for a variety of reasons, including the impact of high temperatures on players' fitness, to the disruption it might cause in European domestic league calendars should the event be rescheduled to take place during winter.[19][20] In March 2015, FIFA and Qatar agreed that the competition would be held in November and December 2022.[21]

In May 2014, Qatari football official Mohammed bin Hammam was accused of making payments totalling £3m to officials in return for their support for the Qatar bid.[22] However, a FIFA inquiry into the bidding process in November 2014 cleared Qatar of any wrongdoing.[23] The Guardian, a British national daily newspaper, produced a short documentary named "Abuse and exploitation of migrant workers preparing emirate for 2022".[24]

A 2014 investigation by The Guardian reported that migrant workers who had been constructing luxurious offices for the organizers of the 2022 World Cup had not been paid in over a year, and were "working illegally from cockroach-infested lodgings."[25] The Qatar 2022 organising committee have responded to various allegations by claiming that hosting the World Cup in Qatar would act as a "catalyst for change" in the region.[26]

International criticism of Qatar for worker abuse caused authorities to make a wide-ranging review of conditions, led by the Ministry of Labour.[27]

Qatar authorities have also sought to improve the situation by commissioning British law firm DLA Piper to undertake a review of conditions in 2012.[28] Following the recommendations made, Qatar Foundation created the Migrant Workers Welfare Charter which apply minimum requirements with respect to the recruitment, living and working conditions, as well as the general treatment of workers engaged in construction and other projects. The mandatory standards will be incorporated into agreements between Qatar Foundation and all its contractors, who are required to comply with the requirements and rules. Contractors and sub-contractors found to be violating the regulations have been blacklisted from future tenders.[29]

Labour rights have slowly been improving since the review; for example, in August 2015, Qatar announced it will launch a new electronic salary system to guarantee safe and punctual payments directly into workers’ bank accounts.[30] Companies that fail to pay their workers on time will be fined and the country maintains that prison sentences could even be handed out. Government ministers also predict that changes to the country’s kafala system will be announced later in 2015.[30]

Futsal

Futsal became an officially sanctioned sport in 2007, when the fully professional Qatar Futsal League was established.[31] There are two futsal tournaments; the QFA Futsal Cup and the Open Cup, which was inaugurated in 2010.[32] Futsal is overseen by a department of the Qatar Football Association.[33] A women's league was launched in 2009 under the auspices of the Women's Sports Committee.[34]

Basketball

Qatari female basketball players

Basketball is an increasingly popular sport in Qatar. The sport is administered by the Qatar Basketball Federation (QBF).[35] The QBF was established in 1964, but was only admitted into the FIBA Asia and the Organizing Committee of the GCC in 1979.[36]

Qatar's first basketball championship came in the 1995 GCC Youth Championship.[37] The national basketball team won back-to-back bronze medals in the 2003 and 2005 editions of the Asian Basketball Championship[38] and qualified for the 2006 FIBA World Championship.[39] Qatar is also bidding for hosting rights for the 2023 FIBA World Championship.

Club teams compete in the Qatari Basketball League, the top domestic basketball league in the country. Qatar's first women's basketball league was launched in 2012.[40]

Golf

Qatar has hosted the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, a European Tour golf event, since 1998.[41]

Handball

Handball is the second most popular team sport in Qatar.[1] It was introduced to the country in 1968; however, Qatar did not join the International Handball Federation until the 1970s.[42] The Qatar national handball team qualified for the IHF World Men's Handball Championship on four separate occasions, and automatically qualified for a fifth as host.[42] Qatar came runners-up to France in the 2015 World Handball Championship held on home soil, however the tournament was marred by various controversies.[43]

Powerboat racing

The Grand Prix of Qatar, a round in the Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship, was held annually in Doha Bay from 2005 to 2015.[44] In addition, the state-sponsored Qatar Team won four Formula 1 championships with Jay Price (2008)[45] and Alex Carella (2011-13).[46] Qatar ended their involvement in Formula 1 powerboat racing in early 2015 with the merger of the Qatar Sailing Federation and Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF).[47]

Beginning in November 2009, Qatar has been host of the The Oryx Cup World Championship, a hydroplane boat race in the H1 Unlimited season. The races take place in Doha Bay.[48]

Motor racing

Qatar's two bronze medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mutaz Essa Barshim posing for a picture.

Qatar Racing Club, a drag racing facility where the Arabian Drag Racing League competes, is located in the country's capital. Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani, the first Qatari to drive a Formula One car,[49] is involved in the sport and is the owner of Al-Annabi Racing.[50]

Qatari athlete Nasser Al-Attiyah has won 2011 and 2015 Dakar Rally, the 2008 and 2015 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup, the Production World Rally Championship in 2006, and the 2014 and 2015 World Rally Championship-2.

The Losail International Circuit has hosted the Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix since 2004, a Superbike World Championship round from 2005-2009 and since 2014, and a Motocross World Championship round since 2013.[51][52]

Sport by number of athletes registered

Statistics accurate as of 2013.[1]

 
Sport Female Male Total
Football 316 5,156 5,472
Swimming 41 2,361 2,402
Athletics 0 2,043 2,043
Handball 53 1,855 1,908
Taekwondo
Judo		 295 1,178 1,473
Volleyball 107 1357 1,464
Basketball 43 997 1,040
Fencing 255 499 754
Hockey 196 481 677
Karate 95 422 517
Table tennis 30 402 432
Tennis 69 211 280
Billiard
Snooker		 0 190 190
 
Sport Female Male Total
Endurance riding 30 118 148
Gymnastics 69 66 135
Bowling 0 122 122
Equestrian sports 13 86 99
Golf 8 57 65
Chess 32 29 61
Wrestling 0 56 56
Boxing 0 56 56
Squash 0 49 49
Sailing
Rowing		 4 24 28
Weightlifting
Bodybuilding		 0 22 22

Major sport events in Qatar

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3

Annual Events

  • since 1993 - ATP Tennis Tournament doha
  • since 1998 - Commercial Bank Qatar Masters
  • since 2004 - FIM Moto Racing World Championships
  • since 2008 - FEI Equestrian Global Champions Tour
  • since 2008 - WTA Tour Tennis Championships
  • since 2010 - IAAF Diamond League
  • since 2010 - IHF Handball Super Globe
  • since 2010 - FIVB Club World Championships

Failed Bids

  • 2020 - Olympic Games

See also

References

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  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.00 12.01 12.02 12.03 12.04 12.05 12.06 12.07 12.08 12.09 12.10 12.11 12.12 12.13 12.14 12.15 12.16 12.17 12.18 12.19 12.20 12.21 12.22 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  51. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  52. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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