* Gulf Times speaks to Khalaf M Alidmat, General Director of QQQ Group, in an exclusive conversation about Arab World Electronic Football Championship (FIFA 21) and how it contributes to the sports landscape of Qatar
Esports, short for “electronic sports,” transforms online gaming into a spectator sport. The experience is similar to watching a professional sporting event, except that instead of watching a physical event, spectators watch video gamers compete against each other in a virtual environment.
If it’s hard to imagine why anyone would watch somebody else playing a video game. Just as traditional sports fans enjoy watching top athletes perform at the top of their craft, the same is true of those who watch top video gamers compete. Esports has on taken on a new life and become an industry with full fledged conventions, worldwide competitions, and television programmes documenting professional gamers for over a decade now.
Video game tournaments are now more popular than ever and have provided avenues for gamers to make full-time incomes.
While there's a lot of money going into esports, it's still hard to say how profitable the whole endeavor is at the moment. The one thing to be sure, though, is that the audience is there and so are companies jumping on the bandwagon to organise such events and tap the market.
Qatar is set to host the Arab World Electronic Football Championship (FIFA 21) on October 7. The first of its kind in Qatar and GCC, the championship is being organised by QQQ Company for Media and Advertising with Arabic daily Arrayah and Gulf Times as the media sponsors.
Supported by Vodafone Qatar as the Diamond sponsor and Lulu Hypermarket as Golden sponsor, QQQ media and advertising represented by its GM Khalaf Murwih Alidmat, along with the organising team, including Ahmed Radwan has set the pillars to this tournament. After deliberation with the Chairman Abdulla al-Ghafri (recently awarded as the best influencer in Qatar), Mohamed Adnan the famous Youtuber with more than 2 million subscribers, and also Mabkhout al-Marri, Messi’s friend and Barcelona supporter, all the team decided to go on this unique experience.
Gulf Times spoke to Khalaf M Alidmat, General Director of QQQ Group, in an exclusive conversation about the championship and how it contributes to the sports landscape of Qatar.
“Since December 2010, all the world is looking and focusing on Qatar especially when hosting sport events; whether football, or any other kind of sports, social or intellectual events, so long as the FIFA World Cup is concerned, Qatar is always popping up in headers and world news. Among young people Electronic football is no less famous than physical football and the term ‘gaming’ is rapidly spreading in the whole world. So the organisation and participation in such events can give the chance for several players to find an official frame to enjoy their passion and get rankings and rewards in Qatar and the world,” says Khalaf.
Covid put a halt on everything outdoor, even physical sports for more than a year. Is the world heading digital with physical sports taking a back seat, Khalaf responds, “There was a tendency to switch towards digital world even before Covid-19. Although digital sport is fun and a passion to share with the community, yet it can never replace physical sports. However, now variety of games are available worldwide which can be played with anyone across the world online instead of the traditional way where you have to find a friend to sit physically with you during the playing time. A recent report published by Newzoo confirmed that Global Esports Audience has increased by 11.7%, so yes, the world has already evolved to a state where digital sports and gaming have exceeded physical ones.”
With an estimate of about 20 million players of e-sports in the Arab world, how much participation the competition is expecting. “This number is surely huge and we are expecting to receive around 10,000 players for this edition of the game. Especially it is the last chance to play on FIFA21 before switching to the new edition. Our team is experienced in organising event and are ready to face the challenges if the number is bigger than estimated,” Khalaf adds, “This will be the beginning for successful editions in the future as the plan is to make it an annual tournament,”
Khalaf has advised all the participants taking part in the competition to stay connected to the event’s Instagram page which will be used primarily to announce all the news and results. “Some challenges have already been included in the terms and conditions of participation like the difference of time between countries, technical issues that might occur from one or both participants either electricity or Internet. Our support team will cover most of the issues and will always be there to promptly respond to inquiries and questions. Live streaming will be exclusive in the opening and final match of the championship of this edition. But live coverage on Instagram and other social media platforms will be covered by our bloggers and influencers and best goals will also be featured on the championship’s Instagram page.”
The Championship has partnered with Qatar Charity to support education related projects. “Charity and social participation has been always one of our main concerns at QQQ. Qatar Charity is present as our social partner as we will dedicate 10% or the registration fees collected to support ‘educate me’ community initiative via Qatar Charity. We tend to spread to engage more profitable firms in donating to the social organisation to support different categories in need,” says Khalaf.
If it’s hard to imagine why anyone would watch somebody else playing a video game. Just as traditional sports fans enjoy watching top athletes perform at the top of their craft, the same is true of those who watch top video gamers compete. Esports has on taken on a new life and become an industry with full fledged conventions, worldwide competitions, and television programmes documenting professional gamers for over a decade now.
Video game tournaments are now more popular than ever and have provided avenues for gamers to make full-time incomes.
While there's a lot of money going into esports, it's still hard to say how profitable the whole endeavor is at the moment. The one thing to be sure, though, is that the audience is there and so are companies jumping on the bandwagon to organise such events and tap the market.
Qatar is set to host the Arab World Electronic Football Championship (FIFA 21) on October 7. The first of its kind in Qatar and GCC, the championship is being organised by QQQ Company for Media and Advertising with Arabic daily Arrayah and Gulf Times as the media sponsors.
Supported by Vodafone Qatar as the Diamond sponsor and Lulu Hypermarket as Golden sponsor, QQQ media and advertising represented by its GM Khalaf Murwih Alidmat, along with the organising team, including Ahmed Radwan has set the pillars to this tournament. After deliberation with the Chairman Abdulla al-Ghafri (recently awarded as the best influencer in Qatar), Mohamed Adnan the famous Youtuber with more than 2 million subscribers, and also Mabkhout al-Marri, Messi’s friend and Barcelona supporter, all the team decided to go on this unique experience.
Gulf Times spoke to Khalaf M Alidmat, General Director of QQQ Group, in an exclusive conversation about the championship and how it contributes to the sports landscape of Qatar.
“Since December 2010, all the world is looking and focusing on Qatar especially when hosting sport events; whether football, or any other kind of sports, social or intellectual events, so long as the FIFA World Cup is concerned, Qatar is always popping up in headers and world news. Among young people Electronic football is no less famous than physical football and the term ‘gaming’ is rapidly spreading in the whole world. So the organisation and participation in such events can give the chance for several players to find an official frame to enjoy their passion and get rankings and rewards in Qatar and the world,” says Khalaf.
Covid put a halt on everything outdoor, even physical sports for more than a year. Is the world heading digital with physical sports taking a back seat, Khalaf responds, “There was a tendency to switch towards digital world even before Covid-19. Although digital sport is fun and a passion to share with the community, yet it can never replace physical sports. However, now variety of games are available worldwide which can be played with anyone across the world online instead of the traditional way where you have to find a friend to sit physically with you during the playing time. A recent report published by Newzoo confirmed that Global Esports Audience has increased by 11.7%, so yes, the world has already evolved to a state where digital sports and gaming have exceeded physical ones.”
With an estimate of about 20 million players of e-sports in the Arab world, how much participation the competition is expecting. “This number is surely huge and we are expecting to receive around 10,000 players for this edition of the game. Especially it is the last chance to play on FIFA21 before switching to the new edition. Our team is experienced in organising event and are ready to face the challenges if the number is bigger than estimated,” Khalaf adds, “This will be the beginning for successful editions in the future as the plan is to make it an annual tournament,”
Khalaf has advised all the participants taking part in the competition to stay connected to the event’s Instagram page which will be used primarily to announce all the news and results. “Some challenges have already been included in the terms and conditions of participation like the difference of time between countries, technical issues that might occur from one or both participants either electricity or Internet. Our support team will cover most of the issues and will always be there to promptly respond to inquiries and questions. Live streaming will be exclusive in the opening and final match of the championship of this edition. But live coverage on Instagram and other social media platforms will be covered by our bloggers and influencers and best goals will also be featured on the championship’s Instagram page.”
The Championship has partnered with Qatar Charity to support education related projects. “Charity and social participation has been always one of our main concerns at QQQ. Qatar Charity is present as our social partner as we will dedicate 10% or the registration fees collected to support ‘educate me’ community initiative via Qatar Charity. We tend to spread to engage more profitable firms in donating to the social organisation to support different categories in need,” says Khalaf.