The Qatari leadership in sport reached its pinnacle in 2022 after the resounding success of hosting the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and making it the best ever tournament.
Qatar left a local, Gulf and Arab legacy that will be proudly passed down to generations to come, impressing the world with the highest level of infrastructure, including state-of-the-art stadiums.
The host nation's efforts over 12 years to organise the mega sporting event drew praise from across the world.
Qatar received more than 1.4mn visitors during the World Cup which ran from November 20 to December 18, while the total number of fans who attended the championship matches reached 3,404,252. This made FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 rank third in the number of fans in the history of the World Cup.
The final match at Lusail Stadium saw a record attendance with the full capacity of 88,966 fans, making it the third highest attended match. The average attendance for a match was 53,000 fans, with a total capacity of more than 96%.
The attendance of the fans in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 broke many records as it exceeded since the quarter-finals with 3,113,889 fans in 60 matches, whereas the total number of fans recorded in the World Cup Russia 2018 in 64 matches was 3,031,768 fans. It surpassed the crowd attendance in the 1998 World Cup in France, which amounted to 2,785,100 fans, and exceeded the World Cup in South Korea and Japan in 2002, when the number of fans in 64 matches reached 2,705,197.
The recreational activities held in parallel to FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 also saw a large attendance. The daily attendance of the various events reached nearly 530,000 people, whether at the FIFA Fan Festival in Al Bidda Park, or the areas surrounding the stadiums, on the Doha Corniche, and in the fan areas across the country. As for the FIFA Fan Festival in particular, it attracted more than 1.8mn fans, who enjoyed live broadcasts of matches and entertainment.
Beside the organisational success, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 achieved an unparalleled technical success, as many observers described the tournament as one of the most exciting edition of resounding surprises.
In 2022, Qatari football achieved a lot of continental successes, especially administrative ones, as Qatar won the honour of hosting the next edition of the AFC Asian Cup for adults, to be held at the beginning of 2024.
The Qatar Football Association (QFA) announced the participation of 'Al Adaam' in the next edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament for the second time in a row, after the team appeared in the last edition of the tournament, held in the US in July and August of 2021 and achieved remarkable results by reaching the semifinals, and lost 1-0 to the American team, who was crowned champion after defeating Mexico in the final.
The AFC Competitions Committee has also chosen Qatar to host the sixth edition of the AFC U-23 Asian Cup, which will be held in early 2024. This tournament is of great importance, as it will qualify the top three teams to the football competition at the Summer Olympic Games hosted by the French capital Paris in 2024.
The year 2022 witnessed the Qatari Olympic team becoming the runner-up of the West Asian Under-23 Championship, held in Saudi Arabia, after losing in the final to the host (1-3), while the Qatari Olympic team had left the Asian Under-23 Championship, held in Uzbekistan, from the first round, after drawing with the teams of Iran and Turkmenistan, and losing to Uzbekistan in the Group A competitions.
The Qatar youth national team qualified for the U-20 Asian Cup finals, to be held in Uzbekistan in 2023, after topping the Group C of qualifiers held last September in Bahrain, beating Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Bahrain, to qualify for the finals for the 16th time in its history.
The Qatar U-17 national team also reached the continental finals to be held in 2023, after topping the Group C in the qualifiers held in Oman, where it collected ten points from three victories over Oman, Iraq and Lebanon, and a draw with Bahrain.
In terms of the participation of Qatari clubs on the continent, both Al Rayyan and Al Duhail reached the eighth round of the 2022 AFC competitions. While Al Sadd and Al Gharafa left the group stage, Al Rayyan qualified to the second round for the first time in its history, securing second place in its group, while Al Duhail qualified as the champion of its group with five wins and one loss.
Al Duhail and Al Rayyan booked their place at the beginning of the knockout stages of the tournament, which is hosted by Qatar, where the matches of the round of 16 will be held on February 19 and 20, 2023, the quarterfinals on February 23, and the semifinals on February 26, the final home match will be held on April 29, 2023 at the home of the qualifying team from the West region, and the return match will be held on May 6, 2023 at the home of the Japanese Urawa Red Diamonds team that qualified for the final of the East region.
At the local level, Al Sadd retained the title of champion of the Qatari league (QNB Stars League) 2021-2022 for the second time in a row and the sixteenth in its history, while Al Duhail won the title of Amir Cup for the fourth time in its history.
Doha was the focus of attention of football fans when in September it hosted the Lusail Super Cup between Zamalek, the champion of the Egyptian league, and Al Hilal, the champion of the Saudi league, at the official opening of Lusail Stadium, the largest stadium of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
The national teams spared no effort to enhance the country's reputation regionally and internationally in individual and team sports during the year 2022, by winning titles and recording the best results. The Qatari handball team won the Asian Men's Championship 2022 for the fifth time in a row, the Qatar beach volleyball team won the Asian Beach Volleyball Championship 2022, the 2022 FIBV Beach Volleyball King of the Court, and the 2022 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour.
The Qatari shooting team, comprising of Masoud Saleh al-Athba, Abdulaziz al-Attiyah and Rashid Saleh al-Athba, won the men's skeet team gold in the 10th Asian Shotgun Championship in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Qatari Olympic champion Mutaz Barshim won the gold medal in the high jump competition at the 2022 World Athletics Championships for the third time in a row, and the Qatari Olympic champion and quadrant, Fares Ibrahim, won three medals (two golds and a silver) in the 2022 Asian Weightlifting Championships.
The star of the Qatari shooting team, Rashid al-Athba, succeeded in qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after finishing third in the 2022 World Shooting Championships (Croatia). Champion Abdullah Al-Tamimi won the gold medal for the men's singles category in the West Asian Squash Championship 2022 (Iran).
At the Gulf level, Qatari teams achieved the best results in the third 2022 GCC Games (Kuwait), with a total of 52 medals (16 gold, 21 silver and 15 bronze). The Qatar champions continued to win medals at the 2022 Islamic Solidarity Games (Turkey) and won 12 medals (four golds, three silvers and five bronzes).
Doha witnessed a distinguished activity by hosting many tournaments in the international WTT World Youth Table Tennis Championships last March, and the Feeder Table Tennis Championship for men and women, within the series of international table tennis championships that Qatar hosted throughout the month of March, as well as the WTT CONTENDER Table Tennis Championship and the WTT STAR CONTENDER Table Tennis Championship.
The Qatar Gymnastics Federation also recorded a number of achievements in 2022, as the Qatari team won seven medals in October. Qatar achieved great organisational success in hosting the 14th Taishan Artistic Gymnastics world cup in Doha last March.
The successes continued in organising the ninth edition of the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championship for men and women from 15 to 18 June, with the participation of more than 137 male and female players from 21 countries.
Qatar Gymnastics Federation won the hosting of the 85th International Gymnastics Federation Congress in 2024.
Before the end of the year, Qatar won the hosting of the FIA World Endurance Championship, organised by the International Automobile Federation. Qatar will host the inaugural endurance race for the year 2024 and the championship races for a period of six years.
The FIA World Endurance Championship, to be held at Lusail International Circuit, is the opening event of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship season.
As usual and every year, Qatar successfully hosted international tournaments of Qatar Tennis Federation such as: ExxonMobil Tennis Championship for men, Total Open Tennis Championship for women, and local ones such as: the first Qatar Championship of the International Tennis Federation for men, the second Qatar Championship of the International Tennis Federation for men, and the third Qatar Championship of the International Tennis Federation for men, the first Qatar International Youth Tennis Championship, the second Qatar International Youth Tennis Championship, the Qatar Classic international squash championship, and the Squash Championship Challenge 2.
Also, during the year 2022, many other events took place in Qatar in rugby, cricket, karate, judo, and other tournaments in various games, to confirm that the country is the sport capital of the world, and the preferred destination for all international and continental sport activities, because of its high capabilities, accumulated experience, and global ability to organise and host events successfully.
A moment from the dazzling opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. PICTURE: Shaji Kayamkulam.
A view of the crowd at the FIFA Fan Festival that ran parallel to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. PICTURE: Shaji Kayamkulam.
A view of the spectators at the opening match of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. PICTURE: Shaji Kayamkulam.
Fireworks light up the Doha skyline during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. PICTURE: Thajudheen
La'eeb, the Official Mascot for this year's FIFA World Cup 2022, seen during the opening ceremony. PICTURE: Shaji Kayamkulam.
