By Sports Reporter
Doha: Responding to overwhelming interest from the public in last year’s Emir’s Cup football final, the Qatar Football Association has decided to hold more entertaining programmes that culminates in Saturday’s exciting final at the Khalifa International Stadium.
A family festival titled “Everyone Wins” opens tomorrow for the public on the east side of the stadium from 4-6pm and continues till the day of the final, according to the QFA. Hamad Abdulla al-Kawari, marketing officer at QFA, said the area would be turned into an amusement park offering more than 20 fun-filled activities to families.
“There will be games and acrobatic shows,” he said. “Each of our sponsoring partners will offer something exciting for the visitors. We’d like the public to sample the unique flavour of the final match.” Revealing details of the programmes, al-Kawari explained there would be activities including circus games, caricature, magic and musical shows before the kick-off.
“It will be more than just a match and we want to share the occasion with as many people as possible, both the nationals and expatriates,” said Abdulla, who expects each of the 65,000 seats at the giant stadium will be occupied on Saturday.
Tickets for the final, each priced at a nominal QR10, are on sale at all major shopping malls as well as at the football clubs.
“The final is still five days away but 60% of tickets are already sold out,” he said, while announcing that prizes worth QR2mn will be given away to spectators through lucky draws. Every entry ticket will be entered into a draw with the ticket holder standing a chance to win fabulous prizes including 10 Toyota cars, 20 motorbikes, 20 jet skis, 15 air tickets.
Besides as many as 100 lucky draw winners will collect cash prizes ranging from QR2,000 to QR10,000. “Gates at Khalifa Stadium will open from 3pm and they will be closed an hour before 7pm kick off,” he said.
“There will be special parking arrangements and Karwa will operate shuttle service to facilitate those who have to park their vehicles away from the stadium.”
Qtel to extend special services
Qtel is pulling out all the stops in the run-up to the final games of the Emir’s Cup, with a range of special services aimed at adding to fans’ enjoyment and ensuring as many people as possible can enjoy the games.
With the semi-finals taking place today, and the final set for May 13, people across Qatar are rooting for their team to take the trophy home.
As the exclusive telecommunications partner for the event, Qtel is deploying a full range of products and services to engage the whole community with Qatar’s most prestigious tournament.
Fans who want to follow the game from home can watch every match live on Al Kass Sports (Channel 611) available on Mozaic’s Prime Arabia Package.
There is also a dedicated Qatar Football SMS and Video Alert service, to keep people up-to-date with the latest goals, news and match results throughout the competition.
Hundreds of fans have already subscribed to the service, which can be accessed through 3G phones by texting A2 to 2973.
Qtel is also providing a special booth at the semi-finals and finals, where football fans can collect a goodie bag containing a range of football-related giveaways.
Qtel is also the sponsor for the next AFC Asian Cup tournament, to be held in Qatar in 2011, and the Asian Champions League for 2009-2012. |
