December 18 is no longer an exceptional date only for the Qatari people as it is the national day of the state, but rather has become the day of continental and international sporting events for the coming years.
Qatar decorated its national day this year with a double sporting event: the final of the Emir of Qatar Football Cup, which will bring together Al-Sadd with Al-Arabi this evening, and the opening of Al-Rayyan Stadium, the fourth stadium for the Qatar 2022 World Cup and the third stadiums built from scratch.
Not far from the National Day celebrations, the country will also host tomorrow night, Saturday, for the first time in its history, the final match of the AFC Champions League soccer competition, which will bring together South Korean Ulsan Hyundai and Iranian Persepolis.
The Emir of Qatar Cup final today between Al-Sadd (left) and Al-Arabi (communication sites)
The association of the National Day of the State of Qatar with sports will not stop at this point, but next year 2021 will host the final match of the Arab Football Championship, which will include 16 Arab teams, and it will be the last preparatory competition before the World Cup finals.
The prominent sports career on the National Day will reach its climax in 2022 at the World Cup in Qatar, when it hosts the final match of the most prominent football event in the world.
Engineer Yasser Al-Gammal, head of the operations office and deputy head of the technical office for projects at the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, explained that the country's National Day will be linked to prominent sporting events, whether local, Arab, Asian or international, starting this year and during the next few years.
National Day 2022 hosts the final of the World Cup Qatar (Al-Jazeera)
Al-Jamal told Al-Jazeera Net, "The National Day this year turned into a big sporting wedding in light of its coincidence with the establishment of the Amir Cup final, the most precious tournament for everyone's hearts, which will be held on a historic occasion as well, which is the inauguration of Al-Rayyan Stadium."
Al-Jamal explained that Qatar links sport to all walks of life, especially since sport plays a major role in Qatar National Vision 2030, which aims to make Qatar a global leader in the sports field, and to bring the world together through sustainable sports development.
Beauty: Qatar connects sport with all walks of life, and sport plays a major role in Qatar National Vision 2030 (Al Jazeera)
The name of Qatar has emerged internationally in the sports field with its victory in 2010 the honor of organizing the 2022 World Cup, but this was only the culmination of long efforts made by national institutions and bodies that took upon themselves to invest in the field of sports.
In the journey of global rise and prominence and its title as the "global capital of sports", Qatar has paid great attention to two basic elements: establishing advanced and specialized sports institutions at the highest levels, and hosting tournaments, events and sporting events in various games and sports.
The Aspire Foundation has emerged as one of the most important Qatari institutions, and it includes in its structure 15 sports facilities, in addition to sports facilities and facilities, two and a half kilometers square kilometers in Doha, and is an integrated sports complex.
The Foundation is interested in graduating Qatari elements capable of raising the country's flag high in continental and international competitions, which are ranked among the best in the world. It also won the award for the best Arab sports institution for the year 2017.
For his part, sports critic Muhammad Al-Mohannadi considered that the State of Qatar is proactive in presenting everything new and different, whether in the field of sports or in all other fields, whether political, economic or societal.
Al-Mohannadi told Al-Jazeera Net that linking the country's National Day to the most prominent local, Arab and international sporting events is an innovative and unprecedented idea at all, which proves that the prestigious sporting position that Qatar has reached internationally did not come out of a vacuum, but rather after great effort and work throughout the past period.
He believed that sport ranks first in Qatar, as it pays great attention to it in all fields, and the state has designated a special day for sports (Sports Day), which falls on Tuesday of the second week of February every year.