Ali Musa al-Mahmoud, Deputy Director of the Planning Operations team in the AFC Champions League for Eastern Zone championship, has said the planning process at every top sports event links up all departments working under the Local Organising Committee (LOC).
Al-Mahmoud explained the matters related to planning processes and the tournament in general. “The role of the planning process begins before the start of the activities at any tournament, especially before the start of an event. Our work is based on the data developed before the tournament, data that falls under the AFC requirements, the LOC and of the security committee,” al-Mahmoud said.
“There were also requirements for health conditions because of the Covid-19 situation around the world. After that comes the planning and the preparation stage. This is where we start collecting information related to expenditures for all committees, and after confirming all the incoming information, we urge all other departments and committees to start their work,” he explained.
“Then the role comes to do follow-ups and to supervise what has been agreed upon earlier. Among all the member teams, and after the end of the tournament, we have comprehensive reports and references by monitoring and following up all events.
“In this tournament, we have different protocols and the most prominent of which is the health protocol issued by the Ministry of Public Health. The activation of the health bubble and how to deal with all participants In the tournament, in addition to maintaining the protocols and plans developed for each facility is the most important feature. We have overcome difficulties and challenges, but we have achieved what we had aspired to,” al-Mahmoud said.
He also talked about the 2020 AFC Champions League matches in the West and East Zones, and the lessons learned by the LOC. “We always look for lessons to learn and develop. Indeed, we benefited a lot from the West Zone Championship, and we utilized what we had learned from that month-long event. We tried to improve our performance by setting up different protocols and policies in the East Zone Championship, which helped us tackle difficulties and challenges. The East Zone Championship is an exceptional tournament by all standards and is being staged in unusual conditions. Thank God, success has been our ally all through these events,” al-Mahmoud said.
Al-Mahmoud also mentioned the benefit Qatar has gained from hosting the tournament, explaining: “There is no doubt that the two tournaments – the AFC Champions League matches in the West Zone and the East Zone championships – played at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 stadiums – have greatly helped us prep upon matters relating to operations at match venues. These details show that we are not only talking about organizing football matches. Rather, the matter goes beyond the complete preparation of tournaments at the World Cup level, especially the logistical matters etc. The hosting of such tournaments certainly helps us achieve our goals on the ground by continuously improving performance and diversifying work mechanisms to reach the highest degree of readiness before hosting the FIFA World Cup Qatar.”