Game On. That seems to be the catchphrase of the Asian Cup in Qatar, emblazoned in bold across giant posters adorning most of the glitzy, modern towers in the Qatar capital.
The face of one of the prominent Doha hotels, though, is still plastered with an image of Frank de Boer, the former Holland captain, promoting Qatar's bid for the 2022 World Cup.
"Winning is not everything, it is the only thing," it says, rather prophetically because the country's bid did eventually triumph, ahead of Australia and the United States.
The Fifa decision was made just over a month ago and Qatar's win has increased the country's profile. The Asian Cup, which begins tonight with the hosts taking on Uzbekistan, has turned into the first official trailer, or a teaser, of the mega event to follow.
The weather and the facilities, fans and the country's culture will all be under scrutiny over the next three weeks as 16 of the continent's footballing nations battle to match Iraq's fairy-tale triumph four years ago.
Louis van Gaal, the no-nonsense coach of Bayern Munich, has given his thumbs up to the football facilities available in the country, but believes they still need to put the infrastructure in place.
"The facilities here are very good," said the Dutchman, who is in Doha with his team during the winter break in Germany. "We train at the Aspire Academy and it is fantastic. Even the people are fantastic.
"The moment we leave the pitch after training, the ground staff get on the turf and start working. So that attitude is really nice. The problem is, there is no hotel near Aspire and we have travel a long distance to get there every day. It is tough on the players.
"But there is still 11 years before the World Cup and I am sure the country will be ready for the tournament. They have the right attitude and people."
The existing venues will be put to the test in the coming days, particularly tonight when a full house is expected at the 40,000-capacity Khalifa Stadium for the opening ceremony and first match.
However, Mohamed Bin Hammam, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president, has no doubt this will be the best tournament in Asian Cup history.
"You will see the changes in the competition and how we have improved over the past eight years," said Bin Hammam, a Qatari, who was yesterday re-elected in his role at the AFC.
"It has been a great effort by everyone and I'm sure it will be the best tournament ever and be the model for future events."
Tokuaki Suzuki, the AFC's competitions director, said this will be the most high-profile Asian Cup because of Qatar's involvement in the 2022 World Cup.
"The world will be watching, but I am confident the Qatar Local Organising Committee (LOC), together with the AFC, can prove, through the success of this competition, that the 2022 World Cup will be a success," he said.
"We have tried to make this Asian Cup the best ever on the organisational side. On the organisational side, we have made sure the teams have access to the best facilities for training and transportation.
"Our target is not just to have the best ever Asian Cup, but our target is to achieve the high standards of Fifa and Uefa competitions. I am confident we can achieve this through this tournament and prove our abilities to the world."
The confidence is visible in the LOC as well. Issa Mohammed al Ishaq, the deputy director of communication and marketing, believes they have ticked all the boxes for the players and fans to have a great time in Qatar.
"I believe the emphasis for now should be on the AFC Asian Cup and the not the 2022 World Cup," he said.
"If you notice, eight of the 16 countries competing here are from the surrounding region, such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and also the other Arab countries.
"Fans from these countries will definitely be coming to Qatar to support their teams. We have also made a few programmes to enable our friends within the other countries, such as Japan, the two Koreas and Australia.
"For example, the Indian team is participating. As everybody is aware, the Indians are a big part of the community in Gulf states in general. So we have made arrangements for the Indian community in the Gulf to visit Qatar by facilitating their visas. They can go to the website of the government and obtain a visa to visit here."
Joseph Donohue, head of the LOC's media department, said: "We are ready. We are ready to host Asia's most exciting football tournament. As you have probably seen, the entire city is dressed out in Asian Cup images. Doha is alive with colour."
However, Vadim Abramov, a Uzbekistan, wants officials to wait before they pass their judgment on the tournament.
"The facilities are great here, but we can talk about the success of the tournament only after the finals," he said. "What they are doing before, it is all nice. Everything is OK. But people will remember the football. They will be happy if the football is good. So it will be the games that matter."
And if things don't go as well as planned, they have 11 years to work things out before the World Cup.
arizvi@thenational.ae
UK’s AI plan
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When: Saturday November 24
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Company name: BorrowMe (BorrowMe.com)
Date started: August 2021
Founder: Nour Sabri
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce / Marketplace
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Funding stage: Seed investment
Initial investment: $200,000
Investors: Amr Manaa (director, PwC Middle East)
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Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
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Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
