Effective next season, professional football teams in Qatar must consist of a maximum number of three foreign players and a minimum of eight local ones, the national football association has announced.
The number will be reduced further to two players in the 2015-2016 season, according Doha Stadium Plus, which cited a new roadmap released by the Qatar Football Association this week.
From 4 to 3 foreign players starting next season; with 8 #Qatari players on the pitch, confirms Sheikh Hamad, #QFA president.
— الاتØاد القطري لكرة القدم (@QFA) April 8, 2014
This is a change from the four-player cap that was previously in place, and comes as Qatar tries to shape a national team for the 2022 World Cup.
Speaking to reporters, QFA president Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani said that the change was made in part because many expat players appear to come to Qatar for the money. He continued, as quoted by Gulf Times:
“Foreign players are recruited at a very high cost by the clubs but often you see they don’t perform well, which is not a healthy trend. I don’t want to name names, but it is obvious that the majority of foreign players are not performing up to the standards expected of them.”
However, expats who live in Qatar for five years or more would still be eligible to play on the national team, QSL said in a statement:
“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.”
According to DSP, most football clubs in Qatar are against the new restriction. Some 15 out of the 18 teams expressed opposition, in part because of the talent foreign-born players bring in.
As part of its road map, QFA will also focus on developing young local players, training more Qatari referees and coaches and reaching out to the community to bring in fans.
Thoughts?
So an expat living in Qatar for 5 years can represent it on in international level while sometimes not even being able to speak Arabic. Meanwhile, a lifelong expat who is not a footballer can be thrown out at a moment’s notice for the most trivial of reasons.
Yep, that makes perfect sense.
I didn’t realise that speaking Arabic was a key football skill.
trash talk is very important 😉 not understanding the fuq they’re saying is equally important as well
I talked to an athlete who was not born in Qatar but has represented Qatar internationally and he said they are given a Qatari passport when the leave the country to compete but when he comes back at the airport he is given back his “regular” country passport, to make sure he doesn’t receive any Qatari special treatment while living here. Not relevant just thought it was interesting….
That’s correct. International sports players in that situation get given a Qatari passport, but with a different number, and no Qatari ID card etc, so they are ineligible for “Qatari” benefits. It’s all just to comply with the rules of the sports’ governing bodies.
Compared to others,the league is a joke! even residents spends more time watching football on tv than the league.. They should spend more time trying to improve the standard and attracting people to the stadium and not reducing the number of ‘foreigners’ per team. Why don’t foreign players perform when they come here? No matter how much you pay them, its difficult for them to be motivated when they are surrounded by lesser quality players. Why are the Americans not complaining about foreign players under-performing in the MLS? For a local player, you can only learn as much from the quality of players around you..reducing the amount of quality is not the way forward.
Where are all the Qatari graduates from Aspire?
It’s been training football players for years now, so there must be a large cohort of Qatari players.
I wouldn’t mind it if the teams lost for a few years, and be forced to develop local talent.
Well the first has happened, the second…only till they realize it’s pointless.
“…many expat players appear to come to Qatar for the money….” What else could they possibly come for?
i think the real issue or complain is not about the money but about the majority of foreign players not performing up to the standards expected of them. So, if they are paid huge amount of money, they should at least perform well and improve the standard of there various clubs.
Which is code for not wanting to admit that they bought the wrong player?
“It’s not the coach’s fault that the team isn’t winning, it’s all because those greedy expats have just come here for the money and aren’t scoring 5 goals per game as demanded”.
Mr. Michael, sometime bad tactics or formation could destroy good players. i watch many football games week in week out to know this. so, i could be coaches fault depending on the situation. I have seen expart football player in Qatar played out of position. I dont think Raul, Belhadi, Lee for example are wrong player to play for Alsadd even at their age or Kalu Uche for Al- Rayyan is a bad player. all these player are good football players.
Yeah, you clearly have no idea about the league here.
The situation is more like “Why does he not come to practice on time like he did when he was back in europe? Why is he not sticking to the diet provided? Why is he up partying the night before a match? Why is he smoking shisha?”
But on the other hand, you have done very well if you were trying to copy the typical DH commenter. Well done.
Well for me, i was attracted by the blistering heat and sauna conditions that are around the corner….
Courtesy and pleasant nature of drivers on the roads is why I came.
Expats come to Qatar for the money shocker! What a surprising thing to hear, but then again they don’t come to integrate into the society, (not possible) or for the dream of citizenship and settling down in Qatar. (Not allowed).
The standard of the league is rubbish anyway and no one watches it, not live or even on TV, so it might as well serve some purpose by letting the locals have a league they can play in. It makes more sense than the millions of dollars that are wasted on QSL every year.
isn’t local talent an oxymoron…
I’m not here to bash Qatar. Football is played for many reasons, one of which is fun. Let the locals have their own league. Plenty of leagues around the world where the standard is rubbish but they enjoy it. You never know they might find a star one day who makes it to Europe.
if Foreign players are recruited at a very high cost by the clubs, pay them huge amount of money and SATISFY WITH THEIR CONTRACT, then they should perform well up to the standards expected of them. if they don’t, i am sorry the clubs owner + QFA president have the right to complain. As far as this story is concern, i see nothing wrong in what QFA president is clamoring for.
In theory, it looks good. In practice, it is nonsense, because this is not the real problem in Qatari football.
First, reducing the number of foreigners from 4 to 3 is not a big deal. I do not see why having 8 Qataris in the playing 11 is much better than having 7. Second, if clubs were interested in developing local talent, they would have done it already. It is not one more or one less player that will make them change their tactics. Third, we can clearly see that the locals are not big fans of football. Check any football match on TV and you will rarely see more than a handful of people watching it in the stadium. So claiming that the Federation aims to develop more local talent in Football is wishful thinking. Instead, they should focus on things that are deeply rooted in the locals traditions. You have more chance to have talented athletes in Shooting or may be horse competitions rather than football, so why are you throwing money to create footballers?
The point is a responsible professional football players should at least perform well up to the standards for which they are recruited in the first place. if they don’t i am sorry QFA president have the right to complain or even terminate their contract. This is not new in football, it happen all over Europe. Now most clubs in Europe don’t just recruit players they also look and investigate their characters on and off the field. Yes, they come because the money is huge and good but after that be responsible and take your job seriously. My thinking and opinion.
For the world cup I believe. It will be embarrassing to host the world cup and loose all of your games at home. That is why ‘throwing money to create footballers’ happening.
our national team was at its best back in the 80’s when most players were actually qatari, the focus should be on developing local talent rather than spending millions on foreign players who dont really care if the team wins or looses
so we’ll finally see some Qatari talents!