Two of the world’s top football clubs will be coming to Qatar to face off in a friendly exhibition match on Jan. 2, 2014.
Paris Saint-Germain, France’s reigning champions and owned by Qatar Sport Investments (a subsidiary of Qatar Investment Authority), will head to Doha before Real Madrid – as it did the two preceding seasons – for a training camp at Aspire Zone until Jan. 3, 2014.
This will be the second friendly match the two teams play after Real Madrid – the richest, most successful and third most popular club in the world – and PSG faced off last July in Sweden.
The game will be organized by the Qatar Football Association (QFA) as part of the partnership between Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) and PSG, for the promotion of Qatar as an attractive tourist destination.
In a statement about the match, PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi said:
“To play against an excellent team such as Real Madrid is for us, and all those passionate about football in the Arab world, a great source of joy and underlines the excellent relations that exist between Real Madrid and PSG.
This game is the best possible way for both teams to prepare for the challenges that lie ahead in the second half of the season in their domestic championships and the Champions League.”
Although the match will be a friendly one, a lot of French and Spanish eyes will be watching. Successful hosting on Qatar’s part could go some way toward convincing Europeans that Doha is a good place to play football.
Economics reasons aside, in terms of sponsorships from Fly Emirates, QTA, Ooredoo, etc, the match is sure to be well-reported as fans anticipate the outcome.
Bottom line: The football world will have its eyes turned to Doha for at least 90 minutes in 2014, and it’s a chance for Qatar to show everyone what the 2022 World Cup could be like.
Will fans be able to get into the stadium even if they have tickets? We didn’t get in even though we ( and lots of others did have tickets) for the emirs cup. Let’s hope this match will be better.
I like it that they bring these teams here, gives us a chance to watch some of the best teams in Europe even if it is just a friendly. However this line is interesting…..
“Bottom line: The football world will have its eyes turned to Doha for at least 90 minutes in 2014, and it’s a chance for Qatar to show everyone what the 2022 World Cup could be like.”
So let me read into that, it will show everyone what a winter world cup would be like in Qatar….
“watch some of the best teams in Europe” – PSG?? Really??!
Certainly not in terms of support but they do have some world class players these days. All thanks to the Qatari’s spending hundreds of millions of Euros. These days they are a half decent side.
OK, I’ll agree on half decent I guess 🙂
Personally I would have loved to have seen either of last year’s champion league finalists here playing Real Madrid, that would have made for an interesting game, a number of the German clubs are playing some pretty scintillating football at the moment, imho.
Guaranteed for another organisational debacle.