Doha, Qatar: Minister of Sports and Youth and Chairman of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 Local Organizing Committee (LOC) H E Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani (pictured) yesterday hailed the success of ongoing continental tournament, saying said the crowd turnout and tickets sales for the event have exceeded all expectations.
The Sports Minister said at a press conference held at the Qatar National Convention Centre that Qatar would continue to host major sports events after organising the best-ever FIFA World Cup with hosting Olympic Games being the biggest dream.
The Qatar 2023 LOC Chairman informed more than 1.2 million tickets have been sold so far and attendance has reached over 620,000 with group stage of the Asian Cup still underway.
He said a wide number of communities of the teams especially the Arabs are contributing towards the success of the 24-team event.
The Minister said tickets for Qatar and Palestine matches were sold out even before the tournament, before adding the quality of the tournament has gone up as he praised performance of teams including Jordanian and Iraq, who pulled off an upset against favourites Japan on Friday.
“We set the same standards for the Qatar World Cup 2022 in the tournament, and most of the people who supervised the conduct of the World Cup operations are themselves present in the continental tournament,” the LOC Chairman said.
He backed Arab teams to reach far in the tournament while hoping hosts and defending champions Qatar to retain their title.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Hamad said the FIFA Arab Cup would be organised again in cooperation between the FIFA and the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA).
“The tournament will be held next year, God willing, after completing some arrangements, indicating that the date, location, and hosting mechanism in the future will be announced soon. I am not the person authorised to talk about this tournament officially, but the tournament will be held again, God willing,” he said.
Qatar hosted the inaugural edition of FIFA Arab Cup in 2021 a year before hosting the first-ever FIFA World Cup in the Middle East and the Arab World.
The tournament which served as a test event for the World Cup was a roaring success as Qatar made unprecedented preparations for the competition that saw 16 teams battling for glory.
The Sports Minister, meanwhile, said the Gulf region as a whole has proven to be capable of hosting major sport events and praised Saudi Arabia that is set to host the Asian Cup in 2027 and the World Cup in 2034.
