Doha:

The Qatar Olympic Academy organized a training course entitled "Managing Facilities in Major Sports Leagues", which lasted for five days from Sunday 24 to Thursday 28 November.

This course is part of a series of various courses held by the Academy in the agenda of its 2024 courses, which varied its scientific and academic competencies and levels in contrast to the periodic training workshops held throughout the year.

This course is one of the most important courses that society in general and the sports community in particular in particular, especially the state and the region in general are experiencing a large sports movement, a strong boom in sports tourism and hosting events, tournaments and large sporting activities during the current and upcoming period as well.

This course was attended by a wide range of professional, scientific and sporting sectors, with over 50 students from within and outside the State of Qatar.

Lectures presented this course by Engineer Abdullah Al-Fayhani - Deputy Executive Director of Enterprise Management at the Supreme Committee for Projects and Heritage who worked in several major sporting events hosted by the country at the 2016 European Cup of Nations, the 2018 Russia World Cup, the 2020 World Club Championship, the 2021 Arab Cup, the 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup, and the 2023 Asian Cup 2023.

The lecturer spoke at the session about the machinery and ways in which sports facilities are selected to host the sporting event, and how to prepare the facility both before construction and even before and after the tournament.

The lecture was not confined to stadiums or sports facilities, but rather to equipping hotels, residences, service offices and others.

Then he went on to talk about sustainability in major sporting events, and also reviewed the most important achievements of the World Cup in terms of sustainability and the ways that have been used in preserving the environment and recycling as well as ways to reduce emissions, as well as the ideal ways to take advantage of technology in major events.

Lectures on the second day on "Managing mobility and transport in major events", where he spoke about World Cup transport as well as how audiences and paths were prepared to reach bus gathering places and metro stations, how to distribute parking, and the machines for alternative plans in any emergency at any of the tournament sites.

Then he went on to talk about human resources management and manpower in major events, where he talked about the workforce and methods of staff selection as well as the special needs of each tournament department, and how to create the ideal working environment in major events.

He then touched upon a very important file of volunteers, whether they were from within the State or using volunteers from outside the State, and ways of distributing them to facilities and tournament facilities.

He also reviewed the numbers that worked in the Qatar World Cup 2022, both from staff on the local organizing committee as well as from FIFA staff, as well as the number of volunteers in the tournament and previous tournaments for the main event.

Then go on to talk about strategic planning and infrastructure, how to plan for kissing, during and after the event, as well as crowd management and control the flow of audiences inside and outside the sports facility as well.

In this context, Mr. Khalil Ibrahim Al-Jaber, Executive Director of the Qatar Olympic Academy, spoke: At first, we are very happy to have this large number of participants in this course with us at Qatar Olympic Academy headquarters. And proud of the presence of Engineer Abdullah Al-Fayhani as a lecturer of this course to present the summary of their experiences in organizing the FIFA Qatar 2022 World Cup as one of the young Qatari capacities and competencies that worked in this exemplary tournament through his position as Deputy Executive Director of Facility Management at the Supreme Committee for Projects and Heand Heirs and Stadium Manager.

Al-Jaber stressed that the importance of this type of course comes from the fact that we are in a state with a sporting face, a state that attaches great importance to the science of organizing sporting events, which is one of the foundations, strategic areas and directions of the national sports movement, which the state has paid great attention to and even a strategy for organizing sporting events as it returns at all levels of the state and national sports organizations.

He also said: "The organization of any sporting event is not an easy process. It must be prepared and equipped in many respects. The expertise and competencies must be available to make the event a success. Hence, one of the investments of the Qatar Olympic Academy that always seeks it is the transfer of science from the specialists to the interested, so that the science of organizing sports tournaments and events remains a sustainable legacy that is passed from generation to generation.

Al-Jaber added: Qatar Olympic Academy has previously offered several courses in the management and organization of sports tournaments and major events, hosting several leading, administrative and technical personalities in this field from specialists, to convey their experience received in the field to the public and interested.

The Executive Director emphasized that the Qatar Olympic Academy is endeavouring in the coming period to introduce this area of courses for organizing sports tournaments and events in greater detail and in greater depth so that a series of courses are held specialized such as crowd organization and tournaments, media and communication department in major events, crisis management in major events and other relevant sciences.