A year that started with a sporting success in the form of an Asian Cup win at home ended in mixed results.

Titles, goodbyes, the highs and low: 2024 was anything but a boring year for Qatari sports as the country continued hosting mega events, yet similarly took a few stumbles on the pitch.

While the likes of Mutaz Barshim and Akram Afif dominated the headlines with their glories, the other side saw Qatari sides struggle to keep up their good form, whether in World Cup qualification or the Olympics.

Let’s take a look at some of the standout themes that defined Qatar’s 2024.

Barshim bags bronze in Paris Olympics 2024

Mutaz Barshim defied odds once again to win bronze at the Men’s high jump event, securing Qatar’s only medal of the Paris Olympics 2024.

While it was an underwhelming campaign for the Qatari contingent that had defied expectations to clinch two golds in Tokyo, Barshim’s win became a highlight. It was his fourth Olympic medal — a fitting end to a tournament that the high jumper had termed to be his last before the trip to Paris.

However, the 33-year-old multiple-time world champion hinted at the possibility of competing in the next Olympics, upon his return to Doha. “Never say never,” he said, in an exclusive chat with Doha News.

The year 2024 was also Aspire Academy’s 20th anniversary, which the country’s premier athletic scouting and training centre celebrated in style, hosting multiple seminars and events, such as the Aspire Global Summit as well as giving home to FIFA’s The Best Football Awards during its Gala Dinner in December.

Asian Cup triumph, Al-Haydos’ farewell and Afif’s ascent

The year ends in uncertainty for Qatar just like it started for Qatari football.

However, there were significant achievements in between. Much like the sport itself, it was a game of two halves for Qatari football — a perfect first half, followed by a tough second.

Qatar hosted and ultimately defended the Asian Cup crown in February as Akram Afif became the difference maker yet again. The tournament drew record attendance number as well as record engagement figures, underscoring yet another successful tournament in Qatar.

Al Annabi’s longstanding two-time Asian Cup-winning captain Hassan Al-Haydos retired from international football after the tournament, putting an end to the most capped Qatari career ever.

Qatar continued their good run under Bartolome Marquez Lopez at the World Cup Qualifiers thereafter, ending the second round unbeaten. The AFC U-23 Asian Cup was also hosted by the country in between, where Japan were crowned the champions.

It started going downhill with the loss against UAE at home with the start of the third round of the Asian Qualifiers to the FIFA World Cup 2026. While Afif clinched his second AFC Player of the Year title, Qatar’s hopes of making it to the tournament in North America hangs in balance with just two wins and three losses from the first six games. The team also crashed out of the group stages of the Arabian Gulf Cup following two draws and a defeat.

In the meantime, Qatar also hosted two of the Palestine national team’s qualifying games, the former of which in June saw Al Fida’i make it to the last round of World Cup Qualifiers for the first time in history with a 0-0 draw against Lebanon. Similarly, the Qatar U-20 team seamlessly qualified, at home, for the U-20 Asian Cup to be held in Saudi Arabia next year.

Qatar was also the home to FIFA’s new club competition, the Intercontinental Cup, which saw European champions Real Madrid win in Lusail Stadium. The Stadium 974 was put to use for the first time since the 2022 World Cup for two of the tournament’s matches.

A good year for racket sports

The Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex was a busy venue this year as it hosted multiple tournaments throughout the year, including the Qatar Open tennis event in February, the QTerminals Qatar Classic Squash event in September and October, followed by the World Padel Championship in November.

Russian player Karen Kachanov won the men’s Qatar Exxonmobil Open, while Polish Iga Swiatek claimed the women’s event held in February. Qatar Exxonmobil Open will now return as an ATP 500 event and was also voted the best ATP 250 event on calendar for 2024.

The QTerminals Qatar Classic saw Diego Elias and Nour Al-Sherbini come out on top of the men’s and women’s events, marking a thrilling end to the squash event.

Argentina’s men’s team and Spain’s women’s team maintained their dominance by lifting the World Championship in Padel, which saw some of the world’s finest compete in Doha.

Qatar’s squash ace Abdullah Al-Tamimi capped the year off in style, winning the Cape Town Squash Open 2024 his first title away from Qatar since 2022.

Glory in motorsports and skydiving

Qatar won four gold medals at the World Air Sports Federation (FAI)’s World Championships which was hosted by Czechia’s Prostejov in the first week of September.

Qatar won three golds in events across the Canopy Formation category and bagged solitary gold in male Style and Accuracy landing in the six-day tournament.

It was yet another year of glory for Qatari rally driver Nasser Al-Attiyah, who clinched his third FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (WR2C) in October after winning the 2024 Rallye du Maroc with his French co-driver Edouard Boulanger for the Dacia Sandriders.

Al-Attiyah’s decorated racing career now boasts seven Rallye Du Maroc titles, in addition to five wins in the Dakar Rally and 13 Middle East Rally wins.

What also stood out, however, was Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari’s victory in the Middle East Rally Championship as well as the Qatar Motor & Motorcycle Federation’s triumph in the Baja Middle East Teams Championship — all of whom were awarded in December at the annual FIA Awards.

Qatar also hosted the pinnacle of motorbike and motor racing, the MotoGP and the F1 Grand Prix – the latter of which saw record-breaking attendance at the Lusail International Circuit.

Defending champion Francesco Bagnaia won the MotoGP event held in March, whereas Max Verstappen rose against the odds to win his second Qatar Grand Prix on December 1, despite starting away from the front of the grid.