‘Stand with Palestine’: Education City Stadium to host fundraising football match on December 15

Qatar Academy Doha, affiliated with the Qatar Foundation, will organise "Stand with Palestine” initiative on December 15 at the Education City Stadium. The event, which will also include a football match, is held to show solidarity with Palestinians affected by Israeli aggression in Gaza, the organisers said yesterday.Proceeds from ticket sales of the event – which will begin at 6pm – will be donated to support emergency relief for Palestine. The event is a youth initiative launched by five Qatar Academy Doha students, Al Mayassa bint Tamim al-Thani, Maryam Ahmed al-Hajri, Nayef Rashid al-Kubaisi, Mahdi Hussein al-Ahbabi and Asmaa al-Jaida. The football match – which will be held from 7pm for two half’s of 30 minute each – will see Qatar national team players, retired former stars, and students from Qatar Academy Doha students and Palestinian School.The initiative aims to involve the local community in events and activities in solidarity with people in Palestine. At halftime, there will also be a drone show and raffle draw for prizes.The event will begin with a 25-minute opening ceremony with an introduction by Abdullah al-Ghafri. This will be followed by a musical show by artists Nasser al-Kubaisi, Dana al-Meer, Nasma Imad and Hala al-Emadi, who will perform the songs "Palestine Arabiya” and "Mawtani.”Tickets for the event are sold through the Q-tickets website for QR25. Donations also will be collected in cooperation with Qatar Charity through a link that will be shared on the screens in the stadium, and the collected amount will be announced during the event.More than 100 students from Qatar Academy Doha are volunteering in the event under the supervision of school teachers. The Asian Football Confederation is training the volunteers. The stadium gate will open at 4pm and the event will begin at 6pm, with the football match scheduled at 7pm.Majed al-Mansouri, an anchor from Al Kass Channel, revealed the details at a press conference yesterday. He said: "Youth initiatives are important to express support for our people in Gaza in this ordeal that they are subjected to. They also indicate that everyone, including young people, feels what our people are suffering from in Palestine and that the new generation is ready to do more for the Arab cause.”Al-Mansouri said that many sports stars – including current Qatar players – will participate in the initiative and more details will be announced in the coming days. More details can also be found through the Zone 52 account on social media channels, which is dedicated to youth initiatives under the slogan "We inspire and build the future.”Al-Mansouri explained that the aim of the initiative is to shed light on the suffering of Palestinian people due to Israeli aggression. "We hope this will have a great impact and the public attendance will be large and the message will be conveyed in the best possible way,” he said.Meanwhile, Qatar Academy Doha student Nayef al-Kubaisi said the football match will be the main event at the "Stand with Palestine” initiative event."Many Arab and international stars will participate, including former Egyptian footballer Mohamed Aboutrika and Omani goalkeeper Ali al-Habsi, in addition to Qatari stars. The participating names will be announced during the coming period,” he said."The events will be limited to the Education City Stadium for one day and there will be a live telecast of the match. The detailed schedule of events will be published on social media sites soon,” he added.Mahdi Hussein al-Ahbabi, another Qatar Academy Doha student, who was also present at the press conference, said: "The initiative does not focus only on the football match, but there will be various events and activities for all attendees, including raffle draw.”Maryam Ahmed al-Hajri, a student in the 12th grade at Qatar Academy Doha, said: "The idea for this initiative is due to our keenness to do something positive, after we saw what was happening to our people in Gaza, and the difficulties they are going through, and the importance of showing our support for them in this crisis.”