Taking part in the tournament, which lasts until Monday, are defending champions Fuchse Berlin of Germany, African runner-ups Esperance Sportive de Tunis, Asian runner-ups Naft and Gaz Gachsaran, Oceania champions Sydney University, Pan American Club Championship winners EC Pinheiros of Brazil, European champions RK Vardar, Barcelona who participate thanks to a wildcard, and hosts Al Sadd.
Al Sadd face Sydney University on the opening day, which also sees Esperance Sportive take on Barcelona, Macedonian side RK Vardar play Iran’s Naft and Gaz, and Fuchse Berlin meet EC Pinheiros.
The semi-finals are scheduled for Aug. 26 before the final match two days later.
Al Sadd are aiming to replicate their past form in the tournament, which they won in 2002 and came second twice in 2010 and 2014, and third in 2012. The club’s Algerian head coach Chouaib Kafi named a 16-man squad for the tournament.
The line-up of teams has completed with the arrival of Fuchse Berlin, Barcelona, Naft and Gaz and Sydney University today, while RK Vardar and Esperance Sportive arrived yesterday. EC Pinheiros were the first to arrive in Doha on Tuesday. A prize of $400,000 await the tournament winners, while the runners-up and third-placed team take home $250,000 and $150,000, respectively.
Concurrently, the friendly Qatar International Youth Handball Tournament will be also played at Duhail Sports Hall from today in which Qatar, Oman and Iran will be taking part. Oman and Iran will contest the opening match at 10am before Qatar take on Oman at 4pm.
The tournament continues tomorrow when Qatar face Oman at 10am and Iran at 4pm. The three teams will take Sunday off before resuming matches on Monday with a match between Oman and Iran at 10am and then Qatar playing Iran at 4pm.
The tournament is part of Qatar’s preparations for the eighth Asian championship next summer, which qualifies for the world championship in 2019. Qatar Handball Association aims to prepare the national team in order to compete for the three world championship berths. Qatar missed the last edition in Georgia after taking part in the first six tournaments in Doha 2005, Bahrain 2007, Tunisia 2009, Argentina 2011, Hungary 2013 and Russia 2015.