AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023/ ISPA President to QNA: Qatar Set New Rules in Organizing Major Sporting Events

Doha, January 20 (QNA) - The State of Qatar has established new rules and set very high standards in organizing major sporting events, said President of International Sports Press Association (ISPA) Gianni Merlo.
In an exclusive interview with Qatar News Agency (QNA), Merlo said that the organizational level reached by Qatar has become unique after the great successes it has achieved and is realizing in the sports organizational field in general and football in particular.
He added that the accumulated experience that Qataris have acquired over the past years enabled them to successfully organize the largest and most important football event in the world, which is the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. They have well-deservedly won the challenge after the great praise they received as the last edition of the World Cup has become one of the most successful tournaments in the world by all aspects, especially in the organizational level, he added.
Merlo explained that Qatar has established firm rules that guarantee organizational success by investing expertise and harnessing capabilities in an optimal way to serve the event it is organizing and to produce it in the best possible way without leaving anything to chance, through great readiness for all details related to the event, high-quality infrastructure, distinctive facilities, modern means of transportation and human competencies who are now well versed in how to manage all of this system and invest it optimally.
Speaking about Qatar's current hosting of the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023, Merlo noted that the expertise and capabilities provided by Qatar to the tournament will guarantee its success.
He pointed out that the media experience was one of the most important aspects that reflected the success of the tournaments, considering that what he personally observed, as ISPA President during his presence in the tournament since the opening ceremony, indicates that the facilities provided to media professionals and journalists were at the highest level and helped them to do their job perfectly.
The stadiums built by Qatar to host the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 competitions, he said, are considered unique in the world due to the modern construction methods used in them along with the other requirements around those stadiums that serve the organizational vision of the event from outside the stadiums as well. These stadiums have become a sustainable legacy that will be used to continue the country's leadership in sports as is happening during the hosting of the 2023 Asian Cup, he noted.
In his interview with QNA, Merlo added that proper planning during the current hosting of the Asian Cup made everything run smoothly, giving an example of media equipment. It is not surprising that the press finds everything prepared in the best possible way, especially choosing the appropriate location for the main media center for the tournament in Msheireb, which is in a central location in the city of Doha and close to all that journalists need in accomplishing their work such as following up on press conferences before the matches and providing various means of transportation to reach the stadiums, he noted, stressing that he did not hear any complaints from the journalists covering the tournament. On the contrary, everyone praised the services provided, he said, pointing out that the media is the basis for conveying the true picture of what is covered during the tournaments along with the public experience which is of great importance.
Merlo explained that the ticket system for media professionals, issued by the AFC media channel to attend matches and press conferences, is a global system and is applied by the international federation in its tournaments, which makes complaint about this system a kind of lack of interaction with developments in journalistic work, pointing out that the large demand by media professionals to attend specific matches is met easily because Qatari stadiums have a large number of seats designated for media personnel and can accommodate any number of people requesting attendance. This is due to the modernity of the stadiums themselves and the facilities available for the large numbers that request to cover events, while it may constitute an obstacle when the stadiums are old and lack the ability to provide the requirements for media work, he said.
Regarding the participation of the Palestinian team and the Palestinian media in the tournament despite the current events, Merlo said that the ISPA is always open in dealing with the Palestinian issue, noting that what is currently happening in Palestine is a real tragedy, and words cannot describe the situation that the people are undergoing there.
Merlo concluded his interview with QNA by emphasizing that Qatar is now among a certain group of countries in the world capable of organizing any global or continental sporting event at any time and ensuring the success of the event in an ideal manner. (QNA)