In celebration of this year’s National Sport Day, which will be held on February 13, the Qatar Football Association (QFA) has completed its preparations to organise several events and activities in partnership with different local entities and organisations.
The Qatar football family, which includes the QFA, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) and the Qatar Stars League (QSL), are collaborating once again to organise a staff football tournament at Aspire and will see teams from the football family compete for the title in a fun and non-competitive environment. 
The collaboration is an annual tradition in which the employees of the three entities take part in promoting sports and healthy living through playing football. 
The QFA and Qatar Shell are also going to celebrate this year’s National Sport Day at Katara with their award-winning corporate social responsibility programme ‘Koora Time’.
The all-day event will offer visitors a variety of football activities, including a ‘head-to-head’ dribbling challenge, a ‘Dive and Save’ goalkeeping competition, a virtual reality goalkeeper game, open play football, all-day aerobics classes.
Since its launch in March 2013, the programme has benefited over 17,500 children across Qatar. Last year’s programme saw a significant reduction in Body Mass Index (BMI) by 80% of participants. BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight.
In recognition for its positive impact on the health of youth, Koora Time has been the recipient of numerous recognition awards including the ‘Sports Industry Award’ for Best CSR Initiative in 2014 and 2016, the ‘CSR Award Qatar’ for Best CSR Impact Initiative in 2015, the ‘Dar Al Sharq Corporate Social Responsibility Award’ for the Best Sports Initiative in 2014, the ‘AFC Dream of Asia Award’ in 2014, 2016 & 2017 in the area of social responsibility, and the ‘QFA Awards’ for Best CSR Programme in 2017.
QFA will also organise a school-related event tomorrow at Jerusalem Model School, which will see the participation of school students and promote the positive values of sports in general and football in particular.
Schools play a big part of community-based events that are organised by QFA. 
Khalid al-Kuwari, director of Marketing and Communications at the Qatar Football Association said: “Our participation in the country’s National Sport Day instils and promotes the idea of leading a healthy lifestyle through organising a variety of football events and activities for both the QFA employees and the community. Organising and taking part in several events this year further strengthens the role of QFA within the community.”
As the countdown begins, everyone in the country is expected to participate in building a strong and healthy society. With the launching of another edition of NSD this February 2018, Qatar is set to turn into a large stadium that accommodates all citizens and residents from all ages after Qatar has become one of the leading countries in allocating a day to take part in sports.
National Sport Day is part of the Qatar National Vision 2030 initiative and is in line with QFA’s 2021 vision which aims to encourage everyone — particularly students — to play more football and make it an essential part of their daily lives.
Related Story