Citizens and residents celebrated Qatar National Day, culminated by the historic FIFA Arab Cup, with Algeria crowned the champions. The tournament, which featured the region’s best 16 teams, will go down in history as one of the best editions of the Arab Cup.
The event, featuring 32 matches, was held under the FIFA umbrella for the first time as Qatar tested preparations and all relevant infrastructures ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2022.
Six of the eight Qatar 2022 venues – Al Bayt, Al Thumama, Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, Stadium 974, Education City, and Al Janoub stadiums – hosted the matches. Each stadium, with its unique characteristics, impressed everybody attending the games.
The event attracted many spectators, with all the home team’s matches being sold out. Qatar reached a new milestone during the home team’s quarter-final against the United Arab Emirates at the Al Bayt Stadium, which attracted 63,439 spectators - the highest attendance ever for a sporting event in the country.
Arrangements made by the Local Organising Committee were flawless, with teams praising the facilities they received during the tournament. The coaches lauded organisers for providing the same quality training pitches to all the competing teams, which according to the UAE coach Bert van Marwijk was “something new”. Qatar Rail, Ashghal, and Hamad International Airport were also up to the mark, conducting their operations smoothly.
Team Qatar, who went down fighting in the semi-final against Algeria, also created a lot of buzz, giving fans cheerful moments with their remarkable performance in the tournament, in which they won four consecutive matches, including a 5-0 thumping of the UAE in the quarter-final.
The roaring success of the Arab Cup encouraged FIFA to look for new models to make football truly global. “At this FIFA Arab Cup, we have seen how this international competition has captivated people in the participating countries and across the world, and viewing figures for this tournament have been higher in those countries than for major club competitions,” said FIFA President Infantino.
“We are working to make football truly global. Football is the number one sport, but when we scratch beneath the surface, we see that top football is very much confined to a small group of countries. It is our job – and that of all your countries to help us – to narrow this gap. For that reason, we organise competitions such as this FIFA Arab Cup.”
