By Paul Nicholson, Paris
October 6 – The two-day Aspire Global Summit opened this morning in Paris, pulling more than 130 invited officials from 50 leading clubs and 28 national federations. The summit schedule is a mix of seminars and workshops, with an exclusive exhibition format enabling delegates to meet with Qatar’s stakeholders from the Qatar Stars league to the Qatar National Bank.
Also present was an impressive cast list of dignitaries from Qatar alongside football legends including Juan Sebastian Veron, Juan Gennaro Gattuso, Patrick Kluivert and Gaizka Mendieta. Roberto Mancini was also present and scheduled for a question and answer session later in the day.
Foussed on football performance and science, this is the fifth Aspire summit but the first that has focused on football exclusively. Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF) CEO Khalid Abdullah Al Sulaiteen, addressing delegates at the opening ceremony emphasised Aspire’s central tenet that “excellence in sport requires long term an sustainable effort…talent needs to be nurtured”.
The conference schedule for the club delegates addresses this with sessions titled Training and match load: how to adjust the plan based on that, Specific playing position training methodologies, and How can we enhance the mental performance of youth football players?
The AZF is comprised of three core entities – Aspire Acadamy, Aspeter and Aspire Logistics – and leads Qatar’s efforts in the domestic and international sports arena, separate to the 2022 World Cup organising committee’s activities.
Al Sulaiteen outlined AFZ’s vision for Qatar – part of the Qatar National Development Strategy 2011-2016 – saying that each member had key roles to play in realising the ambitions saying that by 2015 the objective was for Aspeter to become a global leader in sports medicine, and for the Aspire Academy by 2020 to be the global leader in the development of young athletes.
Qatar’s investment in sport and football in particular, alongside the infrastructure to support it, is currently unparalled in the world. The numbers include: $35 billion on Qatar’s railroad; $11.1 billion on the new Doha international airport; 240 new hotels with 90,000 rooms; 12 stadiums with a 500,000 seating capacity; $4 billion on the Qatar-Bahrain causeway; and more than $20 billionon road building/expansion.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734851626labto1734851626ofdlr1734851626owedi1734851626sni@n1734851626osloh1734851626cin.l1734851626uap1734851626