Last month, it was announced that the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 will donate revenue from tournament ticket sales to support the Palestinian cause.

A few weeks ahead of the start of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023, the tournament’s Local Organizing Committee (LOC) has expressed that the region’s most prominent football contest will be a pillar of support for Palestinians. 

Mead Al-Emadi, Director of Events at the Organizing Committee, announced that other than donating revenue from tournament ticket sales to those affected in the war on Gaza, the upcoming AFC Asian Cup will include messages of support for Palestinians. 

Al-Emadi added that Qatar’s hosting of the AFC Asian Cup comes amid the war, making it difficult to celebrate the event. 

“We are with you, and we will not forget you, and this is the weakest of faith,” Al-Emadi said about events accompanying the Asian Cup Qatar 2023 supporting the Palestinian cause.

The Gulf State has played an active role in standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing indiscriminate Israeli raids before and during the war. 

Upon selling the first batch of tickets for the AFC, Qatar’s LOC said it was a “corporate social responsibility initiative” to benefit those affected in the Gaza Strip and other occupied territories. 

We have decided to donate ticketing revenue generated from the Asian Cup in Qatar to much-needed relief efforts in Palestine,” the committee’s chairman, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, said.

“We will be certain that this corporate social responsibility initiative will benefit those most affected, and that football fulfils its role as a support mechanism for people during the most difficult of times,” he said.

Set to kick off from January 12 to February 10, 2024, Qatar will host the Asian Cup for the third time.