The origin of football in Qatar

Football as we know it was born in Great Britain in the mid-19th century.. The rules were written in England and from there the most popular game spread to the rest of the planet. However, there are several hypotheses that place the origin of sport much further back in the time. One of them indicates that she was first played in Egypt in the 3rd century BC, as part of a fertility rite. Of course, there are no more indications than some archaeological discoveries in which the existence of an activity in which the ball is propelled with the feet is verified, but that is enough for Egyptians call themselves the «true inventors».

The information about the Qatar National Team that will participate in group A of the 2022 World Cup.

• DT: Felix Sanchez Bas
• Captain: Hassan Al-Haidos
• Figure: Almoez Ali
• Promise: Hashim Ali
• This is how he plays and possible eleven
• History in World Cups
• This is how he arrives at Qatar 2022
• The road to the World Cup
• The best in its history
• Origin of football in the country
• The groups
• The calendar

In the Arab world, football is as popular as in Europe and America, that’s why the dispute of a World Cup in the region will be one of the most important events for the peoples of the Middle East. Qatar will be the main venuealthough the entire area will enjoy the event as its own. The first Arab country in which football was played in an organized way was Egypt, always a pioneer. When it was under British administration, at the beginning of the 20th century, Al Ahly was founded by English students and later Zamalek was bornunder the name of Qasr Al Neel Club.

The expansion of the sport in the region was slow and it only reached Qatar in 1948, when the territory was a British protectorate and had less than 70,000 inhabitants. British oil company workers started playing it and it didn’t take long for the locals to warm up. In 1950 it was founded in Doha on qatari first club, Al Najah Sports Club. A year later the Qatar Oil Company organized the Izzadeen tournament, won by the representative of the city of Dukhan, who beat all the teams from Doha.

The Qatar Football Association was born in 1960 and in 1963 the first unofficial league was organized, won by the late Al-Maref. For a decade, the first and second divisions coexisted despite the fact that there were no promotions or relegations. The 1972/73 season made the championship official and Al Estaqlal, today called Qatar SC, was crowned champion.

The Qatar National Team debuted on March 27, 1970, the same year the Association became affiliated with FIFA and a year before the nation’s independence.. They lost 2-1 to Bahrain in the first Gulf Cup and Mubarak Faraj converted the opening goal. The team had a decent performance although they finished in last place. They then fell 4-2 against champions Kuwait and closed their participation with a meritorious 1-1 draw against Saudi Arabia. The first victory came in 1974, 4-0 against Oman and his presentation in Qualifiers was on March 13, 1977, on the eve of the World Cup in Argentina. The 2-1 victory over Bahrain was the only one achieved in the competition.

The greatest success in the history of Qatari football came shortly after those first steps, in 1981with the legendary runner-up in the world of the U20 National Team in Australia. The story began when the Brazilian club Santa Cruz played two games against the senior Qatari team in 1979. Such was the success of the Brazilian team, that Sultan Al-Sweidi offered a fortune to the coach Evaristo de Macedo to take charge of national football. just arrived, the new DT professionalized all areasincorporated physical trainers and organized training sessions with youth and seniors.

In the third youth World Cup in history, Qatar caused a sensation. They beat Poland on their debut, drew with the United States and lost narrowly to Uruguay in the first phase. These results allowed him to face Brazil in the quarterfinals. The 3-2 victory is still today the greatest of all time for Qatar, which in semis beat England 2-1. The 0-4 loss against West Germany in the final it did not prevent the members of the campus from being received as heroes and decorated by the government. According to several studies, this campaign was fundamental for the process of creating national identity that began with the independence of 1971..

«We were able to use the result of 1981 as a springboard to build new football stadiums and clubs. Today you can see that we started to put Qatar on the map, today this country has reached the world stage. That success served to bring people together through football and it was very important,» said Evaristo, one of the fathers of football who was already preparing to host the next World Cup in four years.