Qatar has entered another year featuring an array of world-class sports events with global superstars set to dazzle the Doha venues in the next 12 months. The Qatar’s Olympic Committee’s (QOC) recently-announced 2024 calendar has a whopping number of 85 events including 15 major international championships to be held this year.
The buzz is already here as football fever has returned to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 host country with the upcoming AFC Asian Cup getting underway on January 12. Nine of Qatar’s state-of-the-art venues will produce a cauldron-like atmosphere as 24 premier Asian sides fight for top honours during the month-long tournament. The World Aquatics Championships scheduled to take place from February 2 to 18 is the other major event set to excite fans at the start of 2024. Around 2600 representing 197 countries will battle for supremacy during the event championships comprising 75 medal events in six Aquatic sports to be hosted at Aspire Dome, Hamad Aquatic Centre, and Doha Port.
Also, in February, the Qatar Cricket Association will organise Legends League while the Qatar Tennis, Squash and Badminton Federation will host its two major annual tennis events including Qatar TotalEnergies Open and Qatar ExxonMobil Open. The Qatar Golf Association will also host the top golfers at the 2024 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in the same month.
The top-notch events will continue with Ooredoo Qatar Major 2024 (Padel) and Qatar Volleyball Association’s VW-Beach Pro Tour Elite16 slated in March followed by the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup 2024 and ISSF Final Olympic Qualification Championship Shotgun events in April. In all, the 2024 calendar features 37 international championships including the HH Amir Sword International Show Jumping Championship, CHI Al Shaqab Presented By Longines, Doha Diamond League and Qatar International Weightlifting Cup.
The FIBA 3x3 World Tour and the Qatar QTerminals Classic Squash Tournament besides the Volleyball World Beach Tour Finals are also among the events to be hosted by Qatar this year. The highly-anticipated HH The Amir Sword Festival (horse racing) and the Amir Cup football tournament besides many continental and regional competitions will also make the headlines.
Meanwhile, the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation’s (QMMF) 2024 sports calendar announced yesterday includes 43 International, local and regional championships. The major events include the Qatar International Rally (February 1-2), the inaugural Qatar 1812 KM – FIA World Endurance Championship (29 February to 2 March 2024), the 2024 MotoGP Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Qatar (March 8-10), Qatar International Baja (31 October to 2 November) and the Formula 1 Qatar Airways Qatar Grand Prix 2024 (28 November to 1 December 2024).
