AFC Asian Cup 2023: Qatar abuzz with football fever ahead of opening match
Al Jazeera
Football shirts dominate shopfronts, predictions rule banter and flags adorn streets ahead of Qatar’s Asian Cup opener.
Doha, Qatar – In an all too familiar sight, a tourist walked into a clothing shop in Souq Waqif – a bustling open market in the heart of Qatar’s capital, Doha – to photograph an image framed above the tailor’s head.
Abdul Khader, the shop’s master tailor, smiled at the tourist and went on with his job.
The tourist, Hazam Batan, was happy to have captured a bit of history on his phone – an image of Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani placing a bisht, a traditional Arab robe worn by men, on the shoulders of Argentina’s World Cup-winning captain Lionel Messi.
Batan, a Syrian football fan who works in Saudi Arabia, was among the more than one million tourists who visited the country to watch the Qatar World Cup 2022. A little more than a year later, he’s back to support his home country as it participates in the AFC Asian Cup 2023.
“I have bought tickets for the tournament’s inaugural match between Qatar and Lebanon and Syria’s matches against Uzbekistan and India,” Batan told Al Jazeera.
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