The Qatar Press Center (QPC) launched, on Tuesday the activities of the "Press Club" with a session titled "Al Annabi's Path to Qualifying for the 2026 World Cup", in the presence of HE Sheikh Khalid bin Abdulaziz al-Thani, director of the Media Development Department at the Qatar Media Corporation (QMC), HE Sheikh Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Thani, head of the Media Department at the Qatar Olympic Committee, and a number of the public.
During the session, which was presented by media professional Ali Issa, Abdulaziz al-Maarefi, Editor-in-Chief of Al-Sharq Newspaper, and Khalid al-Kuwari, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Qatar Football Association, spoke.
Sadiq Mohamad al-Amari, Director General of the QPC, welcomed the attendees at the launch of the first activities of the Press Club seminar that seeks to combine all media efforts to support our national team in the challenge of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
Khalid al Kuwari spoke about the national team’s preparations for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, which will be held in America, Canada and Mexico. He said: The Qatar Football Association has always supported the national team’s progress since it took over the presidency of the association, and there is no doubt that the efforts made during the past period contributed to qualifying this team and our winning the 2019 and 2023 Asian Cups, in addition to the tremendous efforts made by officials, sports media and the sports community.
He added: “We at the Qatar Football Association, through the Marketing Department, have made great efforts during the past period through a media, marketing and promotional campaign to support the national team through social media platforms and with the support of local media and also public platforms; to achieve the goal of the team reaching the 2026 World Cup after we hosted the last edition of the tournament.”
He said: Our national team's new jersey was launched, whether in maroon or white, in cooperation with Adidas, after the previous cooperation with Nike. In the coming days, the jerseys will be sold in many stores.
Regarding ticket sales for the match between the Qatari national team and the UAE national team, Al Kuwari said: More than 75% of the tickets have been sold, and we hope that there will not be just 40,000 spectators, but 40,000 fans within 90 minutes.
Regarding the Al-Annabi’s journey in the World Cup qualifiers, Abdulaziz al-Ma’ari spoke about the tournaments in which the national team participated before 1977 to recent qualifiers.
HE Sheikh Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Thani, Head of the Media Department at the Qatar Olympic Committee, praised the formation of the Press Club Committee, and said: It is a pioneering initiative that warms my heart. As a specialist in the field of sports media, we have seen a reluctance in Qatar to engage in sports journalism, especially with the emergence of social media. We hope that this initiative will support sports journalism in the country, and that we will see a new generation of journalists in this field.
Regarding the qualifiers that the national team is facing, he said: We have recently noticed an increase in awareness of the culture of cheering among the public, and we noticed this with the organization of the Arab Cup in Qatar, followed by the World Cup, and then the Asian Cup.
