QATAR EYES $20BN SPORT SECTOR

QATAR wants to attract more sports companies to the Gulf state, aiming to develop a $20 billion (R280.78bn) sport sector ahead of the 2022 World Cup, an official said yesterday. Qatar Financial Center (QFC), which licences foreign companies – mostly in the finance sector to exempt them from local ownership laws – aims to licence about 150 sport companies by 2022, including about 25 this year, QFC’s chief executive Yousuf Al-Jaida said at an event to announce the strategy. The drive to attract sportsrelated multinationals and facilitate the commercialisation of sports-related services in the state is part of plans to become a regional hub for sporting events in the run-up to Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 soccer World Cup, he said. This month Fifa established a joint venture in Qatar to help run the tournament. “A lot of the value chain is moving to Qatar as we speak for the World Cup 2022,” Jaida said. Qatar will this year stage the World Championships in Athletics, a biennial even organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. “It’s a detailed cluster of sports companies catering to 2022,” Jaida said.