My role is to clear misconceptions about World Cup 2022: De Boer
WITH less than 400 days until the start of the world’s largest soccer event, Dutch football legend Ronald de oer says one of his roles as a Qatar 2022 ambassador is to dispel misconceptions, create awareness about the region and the FIFA WORLD CUP.
De oer was speaking at an event organized by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy with Qatar Legacy Ambassadors, on the sidelines of the Amir Cup final 2021. The Dutchman is the latest well-known football figure to join the Qatar Legacy Ambassador programme, joining other football colleagues as global ambassadors such as avi, Cafu, Tim Cahill, and Samuel Eto’o, as well as 11 other local and regional ambassadors.
“It is sometimes difficult because I have to explain the changes that have been made due to sports attributed to the World Cup in general,” the former player said of his role as ambassador and the challenges he faces, particularly from Europeans.
’So many things have changed, perhaps if the World Cup wasn’t held here nobody would put a searchlight here. The whole world is watching Qatar which is very good. Qatar is not shying away from the questions raised as they have tried to change it. I see the willingness of the Qatar government as I have seen the Qatar 2030 roadmap long before the World Cup bid was even conceived. Qatar has always been transparent and is doing things in the best possible way. I have seen the changes. Also, my role is to clear the misconception about the region, some people think you can’t wear a skirt or dress that way, those little things it’s totally nonsense. I try also to give facts about the country and you would be surprised how people think.’’
He described Qatar as an incredible place where his heart lies. He added that Qatar is on the track with the developments in the country in the past ten years to stage a magnificent World Cup.
According to De oer, programs like Generation Amazing are part of the World Cup legacy that benefits the region. Generation Amazing is a human and social legacy program that began in 2010 following Qatar’s successful bid for the FIFA World Cup. It harnesses the power of sport to improve people’s lives and foster longterm social development in communities. He went on to say that the Josoor Institute would continue to provide educational value to people and to build expertise in the sports and events industries in order to ensure that the knowledge gained from staging this mega-event is passed down to the next generation of professionals.
Meanwhile, Tim Cahill, another ambassador and fourtime World Cup participant from Australia, believes the Arab Cup will be a good test for the Qatar national team.
Cahill went on to say that the World Cup would bring a flood of professional players interested in playing in the Qatar Stars League because of the lifestyle, security, and culture.
Cafu, razil’s World Cup captain in 1994, stated, “The FIFA World Cup is an important event for the world to learn about Qatari culture. It will demonstrate how much the people of this country love the game. Qatar is an open country. The rest of the world will realise how important sport is to Qatar.”