As Aspire Academy celebrates its 20th anniversary, insiders say there’s more to look forward to after the World Cup.
Aspire Academy will continue its people-centred approach to “stay ahead of the curve” in producing talents that excel beyond sports, according to the institution’s Director General Ivan Bravo.
The academy will celebrate its 20th anniversary on Tuesday with a Gala dinner, where the winners of The Best FIFA Football Awards 2024 will be revealed. This event is one of several activities marking the milestone.
“Although the facilities are incredible, and there is nothing quite like this anywhere else in the world – the people here are the most important part of this project,” Bravo said on Monday.
“Starting with the student-athletes and including all of us around them to help them develop in all sorts of areas, not just physical but mentality and mindset.”
The academy, which includes a glitzy dome with some unrivalled and sophisticated facilities, currently has 273 student-athletes across various sports programmes.
Aspire has long been synonymous with football, particularly in the context of Qatar’s journey to hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup — a journey so integral that The Guardian once described it as “the egg that hatched the World Cup.”
The connection to football is undeniable, especially with Akram Afif, a two-time Asian Player of the Year, being one of the academy’s standout graduates. Much of Qatar’s footballing success can be traced back to the world-class facilities and programs at Aspire.
While football will continue to be integral, the academy also has bigger programmes lined up with major sporting events in mind, Bravo added.
“We are still trying to stay ahead of the curve as we target the 2030 Asian Games and of course, for the senior national football team to qualify for the World Cup and we have an Asian Cup in 2027,” he said.
“We believe that if we continue to be humble and hungry collectively this Academy will be celebrating even more success when it reaches its 40th anniversary.”
It will, however, continue to take time and patience, Bravo said, a sentiment echoed by Aspire’s Technical Director Football Department, Edorta Murua.
“Our goal now is to consolidate the success we have achieved in a short time,” Murua told Doha News, referring to Qatar’s two Asian Cup wins.
“The most difficult thing is to win and we did that twice. But the main takeaway is that we are now able to compete with Asia’s best side. We want to continue doing that,” he added.
To date, the Academy has produced more 642 graduates, many of whom have gone on to represent and win for Qatar in international competitions, beyond football. Mutaz Barshim, one of the most celebrated high jumpers of all time, is another product of the project.
The broader goal, according to Bravo, is not just producing champions on the pitch, but also off it.
“Excellence is not something you have it is something you pursue and chase, you must feel excellence is always ahead of you and you may well never get to it,” he said.
