HE President of the Qatar Press Center (QPC) Saad bin Mohamed al-Rumaihi stressed Qatar's success in hosting the Asian Cup from Jan 12-Feb 10, for the third time in its history, reflects the prestigious and distinguished position achieved by the country in the sport arena regionally and internationally.
The President of the Qatar Press Center added, in a special statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA), that Qatar has gained great global attention when it comes to organising major sporting events after earning the trust of international and continental structures as a successful model at all organisational and sporting levels. This is because Qatar is the only Asian country that has had the honour of hosting the Asian Cup three times in 1988, 2011 and 2023.
Al-Rumaihi, who was head of the media committee at the Asian Cup 1988 held in Qatar, considered that edition to be one of the most successful continental tournaments, due to the exceptional media coverage it received, and unparalleled success at the marketing level. Additionally, the tournament achieved high financial revenue at that time, which was unprecedented at the Gulf and Asian levels.
Regarding the chances of the Qatari national team in the Asian Cup Qatar 2023, al-Rumaihi stated that the pressure will be great on the Qatari team as it is the holder of the title, and will be playing at home among the team's fans in this edition. He noted that the Qatar Football Association has taken a bold step by changing the coach before the start of the continental tournament when it signed the Spaniard Marques Lopez, instead of Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz.
The president of the Qatar Press Center explained that changing coaches shortly before the start of the tournament has often proven successful, because it provides a great boost to the team, which reflects positively on the players' performance on the field. He stressed that Lopez is one of the coaches who has proven his worth and achieved great successes with Al-Wakrah Club in the Qatari League.
Al-Rumaihi stressed that Qatari fans are gaining great sports awareness and will strongly support the Qatari team in this tournament, noting that the greatest responsibility will be on the players who are required to retain their Asian title.
About the group's level, which includes Qatar, Lebanon, China and Tajikistan, al-Rumaihi said all teams are at similar levels, but the Qatari team is required to successfully bypass the first round and then think about the tournament's knockout round.
