Qatar is gearing up for another busy year of sports events, which includes the FIFA World Cup 2022 – the first football showpiece in the Middle East and the Arab world. According to the Qatar Olympic Committee’s sports calendar for this year, the country will stage over 60 competitions, including 36 major international events.
Qatar played a key role in revival of sports last year after the COVID-19 pandemic swept majority of events in 2020 worldwide. The year 2022 is expected to be even better for the world of sports and the Gulf State is ready to play its role again by hosting top-notch events, continuing its journey as World’s Sports Hub.
With the entire infrastructure ready, the country has shown preparedness to host the FIFA World Cup by staging a successful FIFA Arab Cup last month.
Apart from the quadrennial event, Qatar will be home to many international events to be staged throughout 2022. While several domestic league events are underway, Turkish Super Cup on January 5, featuring Besiktas and Antalyaspor at the Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium will be the first big show of the New Year to be organised by the country.
The year 2022 will also see prominent athletes from majority of disciplines visiting the country for the top-notch competitions including the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, Qatar Total Open, Qatar MotoGP, Commercial Bank International Equestrian Championship – Al Shaqab, Diamond League Doha 2022 and Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. Doha will also stage Afghanistan’s home One Day International cricket series against the Netherlands as Qatar continues to help other countries in hosting their events.
The domestic competitions will also be in full swing with QOC confirming Amir Cups and Qatar Cups, to be organised by various federations. The eagerly-awaited Amir Cup football tournament will begin on January 14, with the title clash set for April 1. Apart from these events, Qatar will also host International Conference of the International Association of Sports Management at Qatar University on March 20. The Qatar National Sport Day will be celebrated on February 8 while Sports Excellence Day will be held on November 1.
In 2021, Qatar proved to be the safest destination for sports amid the ongoing pandemic, hosting many events with huge success. The country is set achieve new milestones in 2022 after gaining rich experience of organising events in times of pandemic.
