Qatar Football AssociationNews
08.04.2014 20:59 in :

DOHA: In a press conference held on the margin of the 2014 Emir Cup draw on Tuesday; QFA president Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani confirmed that QFA has no intentions of introducing changes to the mechanism of promotion/relegation of the Qatar Stars League.

Sheikh Hamad has also praised Al Shamal and Al Shaniya for winning promotion to QSL in the back of a very successful first edition of the Qatargas League.

He paid homage to the local media for playing what he described a fundamental role, his own word were : I take this opportunity to thank the media in Qatar for their effervescent role in developing football in the country. Your efforts are well appreciated since media gives the readers and listeners first-hand account of the development of this beautiful game.

Whether it is print media, television, radio or internet blogs, the media’s role to highlight the development of the sport is truly praise worthy. We would like them to continue their performance in the same way they have been doing for all these years.

He urged the clubs to protect their interests on the playing field and try to reach their goals off it. At QFA, we seek a better future for all the clubs. We need to be on solid ground in terms of game development and player skills. That’s our goal until we reach the year 2021.

The clubs and their players need to strive to be innovative and creative to give our followers the opportunity to see a sound infrastructure gain in all of the components that make up the local game.

We had a wide-ranging discussion among the club officials and the QFA officials. It was a consultative meeting which we hold from time to time. We have been following this practice for quite some time now.

The exchange of ideas among us all is very interesting. The related points of discussion are sent to all clubs to help them form their own policies.

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In another key development, any foreign player who resides in Qatar for five years and does not represent any other team out of the country – beginning from the 2014-15 season – can represent Qatar at the national level provided that he is worthy of a place in the national squad. We reiterate that our doors are open to all proposals to benefit football in Qatar. The fans, the players, the clubs and the working staff – we are all in the same boat. We all want to develop football in Qatar and that’s our collective goal.

With a packed international calendar filled with important dates for the senior and Olympic national teams, he said: We have made extensive plans to develop Qatar’s Olympic squad. We will address all that in a separate press conference but I shall mention a few points right away.

First of all, we need to be realistic about our goals and aspirations.

We have a busy year coming up. We have the Gulf Cup in November followed by the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia. Then we have the 2016Olympic Games qualifying campaign to look after. The time difference between the Gulf Cup and the Asian Cup is just one month.

QFA faces a number of challenges in getting our teams ready for key events and Qatar squads also have goals to conquer on the domestic and international levels. We accept these challenges. Football will become bigger and better and we will work together to achieve our goals. From the players’ perspective, they will have to do everything to show their worth on the pitch and show the fans they deserve to wear the national jersey.