Aspire Academy’s key roles in Qatar’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup

 

Aspire Academy’s key roles in Qatar’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup

Qatar hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022 is the culmination of many years of hard work and commitment from the whole nation and as such Aspire Academy is proud to have played its part in making history.

Aspire Academy’s was founded in 2004 with the vision of helping Qatar’s sporting development as we aimed to develop champions in sport and in life. We wanted, and still strive, to ensure that Qatar can compete at the very highest level in sport at events like the FIFA World Cup. Now after the global success of academy graduate Mutaz Essa Barshim in athletics it is time for our football graduates to shine on the world stage and reflect the work that we do.

Many of the squad, who will make history as Qatar’s first ever team at a FIFA World Cup, were educated and trained at Aspire Academy, some of them beginning their journey with us when they just five- or six-years-old when they are spotted by our Talent Identification teams. Others will have been picked out by our scouting department who visit clubs and other events – the very best from both avenues are offered scholarships to the Academy. Even before they join the academy to study many five- to eleven-year-olds spend time training at our facilities.

During their time with us their sporting development is overseen by staff members from around the world. Our top-class football coaches are backed by a host of other experts in areas such as science, psychology and biomechanics as well as the latest technology available. The efforts of the student-athletes and the staff is now paying dividends with our graduates and former staff members set to represent Qatar at the FIFA World Cup.

While it will be mainly on the pitch that we will see our graduates in starring roles, we know that they have the skills to shine away from it as well. That’s because all the student-athletes that pass through the academy enjoy an internationally recognised academic education to go along with their sporting development. We strive to prove that education and sport work hand-in-hand to produce well-rounded individuals.

“We at Aspire Academy are proud of our role in Qatar becoming the first ever Arab nation to host a World Cup,” Aspire Academy’s Director General Ivan Bravo said.

“It has been an honour to be part of the entire process – from helping with the original bid, to being involved in the organisation of the tournament to now looking forward to welcoming the teams to our facilities and ensuring Qatar hosts an incredible World Cup.

“BUT our greatest achievement is the part we have played in developing many of the players and coaches that will represent the nation on the pitch and so create history for Qatar.”

It is not just our graduates who are involved in the tournament with several members of our staff also contributing. For example, Mr. Bravo himself has roles at the academy and at the Qatar Football Association. There are a further six Aspire Academy employees on secondment to the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy to support the organisation of the tournament.

 

 

 

How Aspire Academy helps shape the Qatar national football team

Aspire Academy is intrinsically linked with all of Qatar’s national teams from the youth sides through to the senior team. The headquarters of under-17, under-20 and senior teams are at the academy’s Football Performance Centre which means Aspire and the Qatar Football Association (QFA) can work closely to help develop the nations footballers. Having QFA offices at Aspire Academy allows officials and players easy access to the latest training and sport science technology.

The nurturing of talent begins in earnest once the potential has been identified and the young hopefuls join the Aspire Academy.

As well as the daily routine of studying and training another key part of their journey is experiencing football outside Qatar. In order to achieve this our student-athletes get the chance to meet and play teams from are und the world. During their time at the academy the student-athletes regularly attend training camps and play at tournaments, both in Qatar and overseas. So, our players get the relevant experiences we organise things like the Alkass U-16 international cup and Tri-Series Tournaments.

While the student-athletes represent Aspire Academy at some of these events we also work closely with the QFA when it comes to them playing for the national teams at various youth levels. Indeed, Qatar’s age-group teams often consist entirely of Aspire Academy student-athletes – as was the case with the squad that won the 2014 AFC Asian Under-19 Championship.

At an individual level we also have our European Experience Programme which makes use of our links to clubs in Europe to enable student-athletes to spend time with them to expose them to different playing environments.

The fruits of this hard work and teamwork paid dividends in 2019 when 15 of the 23-man squad that won the AFC Asian Cup for Qatar were academy graduates. It was a similar number at the 201 FIFA Arab Cup two years later as Qatar finished third on home soil in the World Cup warm-up tournament. More recently 19 of an initial 30 players who took part in June’s national team training camp in Spain were from the academy.

Not just players but coaches develop at Aspire Academy

It is not only players that have benefitted from the world-class facilities and training techniques at Aspire Academy, three senior members of the Qatar national team coaching team have worked here.

Qatar’s Spanish head coach Felix Sanchez began his career in the country at the Aspire Academy where he started working with many of the current squad as did goalkeeping coach Julius Buscher and fitness coach Alberto Mendez-Villanueva.

With the coaches and players having worked together at different age levels this has ensured consistency and helped create a sense of teamwork within the national team.

Several members of the medical staff who look after the national team have also worked at Aspire Academy.

 

 

Bringing the football world together at our events

Aspire Academy’s impact on football in Qatar goes beyond the playing side of football as we bring together experts at our annual Global Summit, to share new and innovative ideas on how to develop the management and training of youth footballers. We have organised the event since 2014 for the members of the Aspire in the World Fellows, which is made up of some of the biggest clubs in global football, several national football associations as well as leagues.

The latest edition of the Aspire Academy Global Summit in October was organised in conjunction with FIFA ahead of the World Cup. As part of the collaboration one this year’s key speakers was Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development while FIFA President Gianni Infantino was also a guest at the Gala Dinner. In addition to the members of the Aspire in the World Fellows, technical teams from all 32 set to play at the World Cup were invited the 2022 Global Summit.

As well as the Global Summit there have also been the Aspire4Sport exhibitions, with the first one held in 2010. The event has introduced a wide variety of businesses to the possibilities that the hosting of a World Cup offers. It has highlighted the opportunities open to those to support and benefit from Qatar’s hosting of the tournament even if that are not directly linked to sport. The exhibitions have welcomed experts from Qatar and further afield.

Welcoming FIFA and other visitors

The Aspire Academy Global Summit 2022 is not the only work we are doing with FIFA. Indeed, Aspire Academy has been involved ever since Qatar put together its proposal to host the FIFA World Cup, with our facilities highlighted as part of the bid. During the process to assess the bids to host the 2022 tournament an inspection team from FIFA visited the Aspire Academy campus.

Once Qatar had been named as hosts the academy was the venue for a presentation of the proposed World Cup stadia to a delegation from FIFA.

More recently we welcomed the match officials from Asia, Africa and Oceania, who are due to officiate at the World Cup as FIFA used our facilities for a conditioning camp. The referees and assistant referees not only enjoyed the use of our world-class facilities and technology but also the support of Aspire Academy staff.

FIFA have also benefitted from the academy’s high-profile staff like former Australia star Tim Cahill and ex-coach Bora Milutinovic, who have worked advisory and ambassadorial roles. The academy’s links with some of the biggest clubs in the world has also led to FIFA using former stars such Real Madrid striker Raul Gonzales and Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez in similar roles. 

Since Qatar was named as 2022 World Cup hosts Aspire Academy has welcomed visiting dignitaries, VIP’s and media for tours of the facilities. Several football associations of teams taking part in the World Cup are among the delegations who have visited the academy.  The tours highlight the role the academy will play in the hosting of the World Cup and the contribution it has made to the development of the Qatar national team.

 

 

Hosting during the World Cup

As a result of these visits and Australia and Ghana have decided to use our training facilities during the World Cup alongside Qatar, whose headquarters are permanently based at Aspire Academy.

Hosts Qatar will be staying Al-Azaziyah Boutique Hotel which adjoins Aspire Academy’s outdoor training pitches. They will make use of two outdoor pitches as well as the gym, medical area and changing rooms within in the Football Performance Centre.

Australia will be staying on site in the academy’s own accommodation in the West Dormitory, which will also accommodate their medical area and changing room. They will use two outdoor training pitches and the outdoor football gym.

Ghana will be residing off campus but making use of two outdoor training pitches, a newly-built gym, medical areas and rooms adjacent to the pitches. These updated facilities will offer more flexibility to teams who visit the academy after the World Cup.

“We are more than happy to host three participating national teams in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Australia, Ghana and our national Qatar national team. in our state-of-the-art premises, which is considered to be a reference and great example for training camps hosting venues in the world preferred by many big clubs since 2010. We feel really proud to be part of the great international events organized by our country,” said Ali Salem Afifa, Aspire Academy Deputy Director General.

Highlighting our role

In the build-up to the kick-off of football’s global showpiece Aspire Academy has produced five videos with five key figures who have made a significant contribution to our role in hosting the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and how we can use this impact for in the future:  

The Strategic Vision – Ivan Bravo: Our Director General talks about how the academy has played a key role in Qatar hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022 and how this can impact the future of Aspire

Developing Champions in Sports and Life – Badr Jassim Al-Hay: Our Director of Education and Student Affairs outlines the academic support provided by the academy and how that has shaped the graduates now playing for Qatar at the FIFA World Cup 2022

The Dream Delivery Pathway – Felix Sanchez Bas: Qatar National Team Coach on working at the Aspire Academy and his subsequent journey with many of the Qatar players from the academy to international footballers. He also looks at how these success stories can inspire future student-athletes.

Developing Professional Players - Talal Al Kaabi: Aspire Academy Director of National Players Development and Qatar Football Association’s Director of National Teams explains the processes the academy and the QFA have in place to help players transition from student-athletes to professional players.

ASPIRE Today, Inspire Tomorrow - Abdelkarim Hassan an Aspire Academy graduate and current national team player discusses how the role the academy has played in his development from a teenage hopeful to a full international on the verge of playing at the FIFA World Cup 2022.

“In’ NO LIMITS’ Series, we aimed at reflecting on the great work realised by the academy in developing players for different national teams to represent Qatar on the highest level arriving to FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. We mainly focused on the development of the players during different stages of their journey in the academy all the way to the first national team and representing Qatar in the world cup proudly hosted by our beloved country. We made sure to include all parties who were behind the development of those players, higher management, football department, education department, national players development department,” commented Alanoud Saeed Al-Mesnad, Director of Marketing and Communications at Aspire Academy.