London: As one of the newest global players in the world’s most popular sport, Qatar has a duty to protect and prosper every level of the beautiful game from the FIFA World Cup all the way to grassroots level and the 2022 hosts are honoured and excited to do just that, according to the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) Secretary-General Hassan Al Thawadi (pictured).
Al Thawadi was speaking during a special visit to the United Kingdom, where he and a delegation that included H E Yousef Al Khater, Qatar’s Ambassador to the UK, visited a number of iconic and historic football sites.
Al Thawadi was also a guest of Football Association Chairman Greg Clarke at Wembley Stadium on Friday. They dined together and discussed grassroots initiatives, including Generation Amazing (SC) and Parklife, as well as the potential for future joint initiatives and knowledge exchange programmes.
Prior to that, the delegation visited a number of grassroots sites in Sheffield, where Al Thawadi was once a student of law. The visit included trips to The FA’s first Parklife Centre, the Olympic Legacy Hub and a special presentation at the University of Sheffield, where he was presented with the degree certificate he was unable to collect when he graduated in 2001.
But it was the trip to Olive Grove that proved the most poignant. The site was the original home of 160-year-old Sheffield FC, the world’s first football club. However, due to financial constraints, they have been forced to move to another ground, in the neighbouring county of Derbyshire. The circumstances called for action and a campaign, and ‘The World’s Oldest Football Club’ was born. Organisers are asking clubs to donate their foundation year in pounds, with the proceeds to be put towards building a new home, museum and grassroots centre for Sheffield FC, on the original site that holds so much historic and symbolic significance.
And as he returned to the city he once called home as the man leading Qatar’s journey to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Al Thawadi said he was delighted to play a part in their homecoming and that as the latest hosts of the game’s biggest tournament, they have a duty to recognise its origins. He said: “From this field here in Sheffield 160 years ago to the first Middle Eastern FIFA World Cup in Qatar, football truly is a global game. My hope is that when the new ground and museum at Olive Grove are developed, and schoolchildren visit, they will be able to comprehend just how far the game has travelled.”
Al Thawadi continued: “I have been so impressed by the vision of the Chairman and staff at the club to develop such an exciting project; to create a new home of football, a centre for grassroots, a place for children across the world to come and learn about where the rules of the game were born and to play on this historically important.
“I was so proud to become an honorary board member of the club back in 2015. I ask all our friends in the football community to join in supporting this wonderful project and for football clubs to donate.”
