Little Qatar plan to bridge football gulf and make themselves noticed

With four years until the next World Cup opens in Qatar, the small gulf country’s national football team is on the rise but still has a long, long way to go.

Qatar surprisingly won the right to host the 2022 tournament eight years ago, when it was ranked 113th in the world by FIFA.

Today, exactly four years before the next Cup is set to open at Lusail Stadium outside Doha, the country still will be only No 96. There are positives, however, including Qatar’s 1-0 victory over Switzerland last week in a friendly match — an eye-opening result against a team that reached the round of 16 at the last two World Cups.

“It’s a big win for us especially (because) a lot of people don’t know us,” Qatar midfielder Assim Madibo said. “I think they will know us more after this game . . . we will get respect and people will know us.”

Respect has been hard to come by for Qatar’s national team and the country’s hosting of the tournament in general. The team’s ranking has fluctuated between No 78 and No 112 since the December 2010 vote, and concerns about labour conditions for migrant workers has been an ongoing issue.

The win over Switzerland and subsequent 2-2 draw against Iceland were good signs, though a far cry from the progress Iceland has made in the same eight years, rising from No 110 in the FIFA rankings to No 36.

Still, the team is improving under coach Felix Sanchez, who spent a decade as a youth coach at Barcelona before becoming Qatar’s ninth coach in eight years.

Most of the players who travelled to Europe for the two friendlies are young and all are based in Qatar — 90 per cent of them having graduated from the state-of-the-art Aspire training academy. With an average age of 24, many will be hitting their peak in 2022.

Although Sanchez seems a perfect fit because of his years in Qatar, there is no guarantee he will still have his job in four years. Especially with highprofile possibilities such as Pep Guardiola and Xavi Hernandez, both with experience playing in Qatar, being mentioned as potential future candidates.

“Of course it will be a dream to be there but four years in football is . . . you cannot say,” Sanchez said, smiling wryly. “Hopefully.”