Doha: Fewer teams in the QNB Stars League will produce much more competitive football and result in the overall development of the game, its CEO Hani Ballan said on Monday.
With the QNB and Qatar Football Association agreeing to a whopping six-year deal under which the bank will not only sponsor most of the tournaments held in Qatar but also the country’s senior and junior national teams, the stage is set for a marked improvement in the game’s standards, Ballan said at a press conference.
“The teams in the league have been reduced to 12 from 14 to make the tournament more competitive and we are sure it will be the case,” Ballan said. “The emphasis we have is on quality, not quantity. This is what we want to achieve over the next few years. Many leagues around the world keep the number of teams low and that contributes to their competitiveness. In fact many leagues are tough precisely because of that,” he added.
QNB Stars League’s acting head of marketing and communications Hassan al-Kuwari said a number of initiatives will be launched shortly to take the tournament to the masses.
“We are in the process of launching a new website that will contain a huge database of the teams and the players,” said al-Kuwari.
“Through the website we will promote our activities and bring the game closer to the public. It will provide an impetus to the growth of the game.
Al-Kuwari also added that a new app is also being developed to help people keep track of the game in Qatar.
“Not just football in Qatar, fans will be able to follow the results of their favourite teams all around the world,” he said.
QNB’s deputy public relations director Salem al-Nuaimi said his team, in collaboration with the QFA, are in the process of “discussing activities” to get the public more involved in the league.
“We don’t call our agreement a sponsorship. We’d prefer to call it collaboration and cooperation,” he added.
Essa al-Hitmi of Al Kass Channel said fans would see much improved television coverage of the tournaments in Qatar. “We have acquired the latest equipment for our coverage, including the most modern cameras. We have been following the teams even when they were in camps outside of Qatar during the summer.
“We are developing a whole range of programmes, including some for children to get them more involved.