12 teams to participate in 2nd Asian Communities Tournament

Indonesian Ambassador Deddy Saiful Hadi will attend today’s opening match between Indonesia and India.

By Sports Reporter/DohaQatar Football Association (QFA) announced that the 2nd Asian Communities Tournament will kick-off today at the training grounds of Al Arabi, Qatar Sports Club and Al Sadd stadia. The final will take place at the Al Sadd stadium training venue. The action-packed evening will commence at 7pm at Al Arabi Stadium training venue with Indonesia facing off against India in the opening match of the tournament. The second match will be at 8:30 with Malaysia playing against Korea Republic.Indonesian Ambassador to Qatar, Deddy Saiful Hadi, will be attending the opening match today evening. Many families and friends are expected to attend the matches to support their team.The tournament, which will conclude on May 10, is one of the tournaments that is organised to run along the period of HH Emir Cup and acts as a way to excite the fans ahead of the Emir Cup final match in Khalifa Stadium. Seventeen teams from colleges and universities across Qatar will battle it out to win attractive cash prizes and medals.QFA will provide referees to officiate the matches under the QFA rules, regulations, and guidelines. Last year, the tournament saw huge success in its first edition with a total participation of 6 teams.QFA COO Khalid al-Kuwari said: “We are very excited to kick-off the 2nd Asian Communities Tournament this year with various active Asian Communities in Qatar. We have witnessed that the Asian communities in Qatar have great passion for football and as we are the football governing body in the country, it is our responsibility to encourage community participation in various football tournaments that we organise.”He added: “We thank the embassies, community leaders, and fans for the continued support they have showed QFA and we wish all the teams the best of luck. One of the main reasons we are organising this tournament during the period of HH Emir Cup is because we recognise the Asian communities’ enthusiasm towards attending the Emir Cup matches and thus we are constantly aiming to involve all communities who are fans of the most coveted tournament of the year, the Emir Cup. He also said: “As part of QFA’s vision to involve the community in its activities and tournaments, ‘Asia 2’ is another example that demonstrates QFA’s efforts to organise football tournaments for the communities residing in Qatar.”The participating teams for this year’s tournament are Indonesia, India, Japan, Lebanon, China, Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Jordan, Malaysia, and Korea Republic.