QNA
Doha
In 2022, Qatari football achieved a lot of continental successes, especially administrative ones, as Qatar won the honour of hosting the next edition of the AFC Asian Cup for adults, to be held at the beginning of 2024. Qatar was chosen from among the files of three countries that applied for hosting the event following China’s apology for the tournament, which was scheduled to be held in the summer of 2023.
The Qatar Football Association (QFA) announced the participation of ‘Al Adaam’ in the next edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament for the second time in a row, after the team appeared in the last edition of the tournament, which was held in the USA in July and August of 2021 and achieved remarkable results by reaching the semifinals, and lost 1-0 to the American team on its land, who was crowned champion after defeating Mexico in the final.
The AFC Competitions Committee has also chosen Qatar to host the sixth edition of the AFC U-23 Asian Cup, which will be held in early 2024, a tournament that is of great importance, as it will qualify the top three teams to the football competition at the Summer Olympic Games hosted by the French capital Paris in 2024.
The year 2022 witnessed the Qatari Olympic team winning the runner-up of the West Asian Under-23 Championship, which was held in Saudi Arabia, after losing the final match to the host (1-3), while the Qatari Olympic team had left the Asian Under-23 Championship, which was held in Uzbekistan from the first round, after drawing with the teams of Iran and Turkmenistan, and lost to Uzbekistanin the Group A competitions.
The Qatar youth national team qualified for the U-20 Asian Cup finals, which will be held in Uzbekistan in 2023, after topping the Group C of qualifiers held last September in Bahrain, collecting four victories over each of the teams of Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and then Bahrain, to qualify for the finals for the 16th time in its history.
As for the Qatar U-17 national team, it also reached the continental finals to be held in 2023, after topping the Group C in the qualifiers held in Oman, where it collected ten points from three victories over Oman, Iraq and Lebanon, and a draw with Bahrain.
In terms of the participation of Qatari clubs on the continent, both Al Rayyan and Al Duhail reached the eighth round of the 2022 AFC competitions, while Al Sadd and Al Gharafa left the group stage, and Al Rayyan qualified to the second round for the first time in its history, securing second place in its group, while Al Duhail qualified as the champion of its group with five wins and one loss.
Al Duhail and Al Rayyan booked their place at the beginning of the knockout stages of the tournament, which is hosted by Qatar, where the matches of the round of 16 will be held on February 19 and 20, 2023, the quarterfinals on February 23, and the semifinals on February 26, the final home match will be held on April 29, 2023 at the home of the qualifying team from the West region, and the return match will be held on May 6, 2023 at the home of the Japanese Urawa Red Diamonds team that qualified for the final of the East region.