With the finals of the Asian Cup, the footballers of Qatar to celebrate the biggest success in its history. The host of the 2022 world Cup, now hopes also to have a lasting effect in their own country.
Felix Sanchez Bas clenched his fists. The coach of the Qatari national teams allowed a short triumph gesture, then he went to the players, moving his outstretched hands from the top to the bottom. He wants to dampen the excitement around you. His team had just won the semi-finals of the Asian Cup 4:0 against the hosts, the United Arab Emirates. And in a climate of hostility, and thousands of spectators hooted against Qatar. Some even threw bottles and shoes on the lawn – in the Arab world is a sign of deep dislike.
On days the game of the media had been referred to as “Blockade-Derby”. Because in June 2017 Saudi Arabia had imposed a commercial blockade on Qatar. One of the partners who broke off the relations with Doha and also the UAE. “It really wasn’t easy,” said Qatar Coach Sanchez after the semi-finals. “But our players have controlled your emotions well.” During the whole tournament, not the state of Qatar of Fans in the stadiums, most of the families of the players stayed away.
Stage of self-assertion
In the days before the semi-finals in Abu Dhabi, the local sports authority had distributed all remaining Tickets to “loyal Fans”. They had to identify themselves as citizens of the Emirates. Schools finished their lessons on Tuesday, two hours earlier. In the quarter-finals against South Korea spectators from Oman had hailed the 1:0 victory in Qatar – a repeat of wanted to avoid the leadership in Abu Dhabi now. Even with warnings, a bias for Qatar legally could be punished.
A sign of disdain for the Qataris: projectiles on the stadium turf in Abu Dhabi
So thousands of men dominated since early in the afternoon, in traditional white robes, the stadium environment. With the social reality that has little to do. Eighty percent of the population in the UAE are migrant workers, but viewers from India and Pakistan were not welcome.
The Qatari selection under these conditions, celebrated their sixth win in the sixth game of the tournament, with one goal scoring records of 16:0, which illustrates the development in the sport. The Finale on Friday against Japan offers the in the Gulf region isolated Emirate a stage of self-assertion. “We have gained a lot of self-confidence,” said coach Sanchez. “But our achievements are no Surprise. We have worked for years to hard.” The test games before the Asian Cup against participants of the 2018 world Cup to give him: 2:2 Island, 1:0 against Switzerland.
Four national team players were born abroad
Felix Sanchez Bas, 43 years old, began his career as a youth coach at FC Barcelona. In 2006, he joined the “Aspire Academy” in Doha, one of the world’s largest training centers. Opened in 2004, this Academy was with twelve soccer fields, the center for the greatest Talent in the history of football, according to the TV journalist Florian Bauer, who has researched for the ARD several times in Qatar. Hundreds of thousands of young people have been observed in dozens of countries on three continents. The awarding of the 2022 world Cup to Qatar in 2010, intensified the exchange of scientists and academies in Europe.
Scorer Almoez Ali (R.) met eight times
Sanchez helped with the construction of the system, took over in 2013 the U19 selection of Qatar and led them to the championship a year later, to the profit of Asia. So he learned in the Academy, those players know, the form that is currently the backbone of the national ” A ” team. Since 2017, he oversees the selection, at an average age of 24 years. Several of the 23 players in the squad have roots by their ancestors in other countries. However, only four were not born in Qatar, including the Portugal-born defender Ro-Ro and in the Sudan-born striker Almoez Ali. The 22-Year-old shot at the Asian championship with eight goals.
The national team represents society hardly
The football markets in Europe watched for a long time suspicious of acquisition of citizenship in Qatar. In Olympic sports, numerous athletes have secured successes for Qatar, which had previously had no Connections with the country. Particularly under observation: the Qatari national Handball team won the domestic championship in 2015, with naturalized players silver. A number of international organisations to rethink their policies. FIFA granted Qatar, before more than a decade, a cancellation for naturalisation of footballers. In 2004, the question was to get the Brazilian Ailton to Doha.
Peppered with naturalized hand shooting: the Vice world champion of 2015, Qatar 2015
Possibly also due to the global criticism, stress officials from Qatar, in the meantime, that they wanted to strengthen the domestic talent. However, the national team represents the Qatari society. Of the 2.5 million inhabitants, only about ten percent have a Qatari passport, the great majority are immigrants from India, Nepal or Pakistan. Migrants must have lived for 25 years in Qatar to apply for citizenship apply. Your descendants will have it soon, it may be easier – if you make it through football. However, also in this case, you would usually receive documents with restrictions. Access to government funding remains limited.
Only 15 percent of women play sports
Can lead to the success of the Asian Cup now that the tax proposed of the top soccer receives a Basis in the company? “If Qatar wants to succeed in the long term, the country needs a sporting culture,” says the political scientist Danyel Reiche American University of Beirut. Local clubs, sport groups, or informal street games there is rarely. According to a study by the National Olympic Committee of Qatar, only 15 percent of Qatar are women active in sports, however, never in team sports. according to the world health organization WHO, more than thirty percent of Qataris are Overweight.
The Qatari channel Al Jazeera has shown since Tuesday again and again, images of spectators, who cheered in Doha, the goals of your team. They were not allowed to Abu Dhabi for the semi-finals traveling. So a common Narrative could change in the Western world: From the hard-to-rich Qatar, which does not take the human rights seriously, the perception may be the victim of envious neighbors, such as Saudi Arabia. Whether this is the beginning of a football tradition, it will show only when the domestic League attracts on average more than a couple of Thousand spectators.