Doha: Qatar’s meticulously planned ‘safety package’ to host the AFC Champions League matches in testing times yesterday won major approval from the game’s ruling body in the continent.
Iran’s Persepolis and Saudi side Al Nassr will be seen in action today for the last match of the three-week tournament staged at two World Cup venues - the Education City Stadium and Al Janoub Stadium.
A total of 15 teams from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Iraq came together for 31 matches after landing straight into a bubble-to-bubble environment that none could predict how it would mitigate the threat of COVID-19 pandemic currently raging around the globe.
However, with just two years to go before the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the stakeholders hosting the AFC Champions League matches — the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), the Qatar Football Association (QFA), the Local Organising Committee and the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) — successfully answered a number of lingering questions over the course of three weeks.
Avazbek Berdikulov, Deputy Director of the Competitions and Football Events Division at the AFC, yesterday lauded Qatar for the manner in which it conducted the tournament.
“I would like to thank QFA for coming forward and supporting us to host this tournament. It is a gesture that is well appreciated by AFC. The infrastructure in Qatar to host sporting events is really unmatched. I have no doubt that the competition was delivered smoothly,” Berdikulov said yesterday. Berdikulov was addressing media questions during a live webinar titled ‘Hosting Mega Sporting Events in a COVID-19 World’ .
“There is one match left but I don’t think there would be any issue in terms of infrastructure involved in hosting this tournament. We all know that the Qatar is preparing to be the capital of football by hosting the World Cup in 2022 and all preparations are going smoothly,” Berdikulov added.
“When we planned to resume AFC action — after it was stopped in March — we had a set of discussions with AFC members. We started to work with FIFA and other bodies. We came up with our own set of guidelines on how to resume the action. We discussed all scenarios before resuming. I can proudly say that AFC in cooperation with QFA and LOC, did a tremendous job of putting 16 clubs in one country.
“The football players need three things — the main thing is the training facility and it should be good. Also, the players need good stadium and a good hotel. In Qatar we got amazing conditions to play football. The training facilities were great. The hotels were safe to stay and the training venues were superb,” Berdikulov said.
“Let’s be honest — the stadiums were just superb. We played at World Cup venues and you can’t ask for more in this challenging situation. We are really happy at the package we got in Qatar. We also feel that Qatar have got the experience and exposure from this tournament moving forward and leading to the World Cup,” he added.
Dr Abdulwahab Almusleh, Senior Consultant to the Minister of Public Health (MoPH), yesterday said Qatar has emerged stronger and more confident about hosting top sports events in the future.
“The hosting of the matches successfully gives us assurance that the country is ready for hosting international sports events in the future,” Dr Abdulwahab told the webinar. “This experience gives us a boost on our understanding and experience. If for any reason, a sports event happens in similar situations of a pandemic, the country is surely capable of managing it successfully. Now we are living in a new world. Since the appearance of the pandemic, people have embraced the new normal to cope with the disease. Unfortunately, the disease is here to stay for a while. Things differ from one country to another. Many factors play in the overall ability of a country to manage the pandemic,” he said.
“Until the world reaches the herd immunity, and the availability of a vaccine, there are several measures will have to be put in place to control the pandemic. This may run into most part of 2021.
“Under such circumstances, sports family will have to have a meticulous planning in place instituted in all such events to effectively mitigate the disease, to prevent mortality from the disease. Here we saw most of the cases were asymptomatic, very mild symptoms that appeared and disappeared in a few days and only a few required critical care in hospitals.
“With this huge experience, hosting AFC tournament successfully, I have to say, with a big number of clubs - 16 teams - this is like 50 percent of a World Cup. World Cup starts with 32 teams and we had 16 teams here. Hopefully when things are better, the thing will remain is the fans (attending in the future).
“The arrangements were, however, huge regardless of no fans. The added layers of security and safety protocols was huge. The hosting here successfully gives us assurance that the country is ready for the international sporting events in the future. This experience gives us a boost on our understanding and experience. If for any reason, any sports event happens in the future happens in the context of similar situations of a pandemic, the country is surely capable of managing it successfully,” he added.