Mitch Freeley

Constant testing, strict isolation and severe fines this is how the QSL and QFA have been able to become the first Gulf nation to get football going again in the COVID-19 era. 

The 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts have been at the forefront of getting the game up and running in Qatar whilst other countries in the region have postponed their seasons, or in the case of the UAE ended the campaign completely. 

Part of the reason for this happening the footballing infrastructure in the country, coupled with a need to ramp up preparations for Qatar 2022. Airconditioned stadiums and a medical protocol ran by one of the most impressive sports science facilities in the world have all played its part in the QSL coming back from COVID-19. 

Aron Gunnarsson will lead out Al Arabi on Friday evening, as they take on Al Gharafa in Al Janoub Stadium, one of the venues that will be used in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In this new post-COVID-19 world, the Iceland international is looking forward to getting back to play football despite the less than ideal circumstances. 

“It’s been strange, but obliviously football is not the most important thing in life. There is a lot more going on that we can’t control. We are looking forward to get back, there have been times as football players that we have not been used to, waiting for news to come but now we are here, I just want to get playing now.”

The Al Arabi captain was also quick to salute the league in moving as quickly as possible to get the league back underway to finish off the remaining five rounds of the season. 

“The QSL has tried everything possible to make sure that football can return back to normal, you have to compliment them for getting football back to normal in Qatar. If you look at other countries in the region, they have not been able to get football yet. We feel that the players are safe and ready to kick on again.”

Adaptive, that was the word constantly repeated by Ahmed Khellil Abbassi, the Executive Director of Competition and Football Development at QSL. QSL along with the QFA was tasked with getting football up and running in Qatar following the coronavirus pandemic. Not a simple task in the small gulf country which has seen over 100,000 cases of COVID-19.

“It was never a case of being one of the first nations (in the region) to start,” admits Abbassi “We never felt a pressure to be the first, we would not have got back with the resumption if it was not safe to do so.” 

One of the biggest pressures on the players had been the return to training with social distancing protocol, whilst dealing with searing temperatures in a mini preseason ahead of the restart. For Gunnarsson, who is used to considerably cooler summers in his native Iceland, he was been able to adapt to the desert heat and humidity. 

“It’s been hot and humid, we train in the evening and the afternoons which we do inside. It’s not been too bad and you get used to the conditions. I don’t have many complaints about that.”

Whilst the Iceland captain also admitted that the cooling technology inside the stadiums had given Qatar the edge in finishing the season at a time when temperatures can reach easily over 40 degrees during the day. 

“With the World Cup coming up, the air-conditioned stadiums have been a big help, and that is why Qatar has been able to finish their season whilst other countries locally have not.”

Player safety has been the utmost importance throughout the process and the QSL has been following the guidelines set out by the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management. Only when they had given the green light to resume did the league start to make firm plans with the QFA, Aspetar and the ministry of health. 

Conversations with the Bundesliga, Premier League and La Liga quickly followed, and Abbassi was grateful for the advice particularly of the German league which he labelled as “football pioneers”. 

“We had to understand, listen and learn that is crucial in being adaptive with this protocol that the QSL has developed”

A 13-page document has been produced and distributed to every club in the league. The three-stage plan started with small group training, moving onto full contact training and eventually match action. Every detail is covered, from the distancing needed on the substitutes bench to the banning of eating sunflower seeds, something that is somewhat of a tradition in football in the gulf. 

“It’s a framework that reduces the risk as low as possible and gives the opportunity to train in the best way possible. This also means that the players and the coaches have had to be adaptive in training and the players own lifestyle.”

Testing has been a major part in the recovery with players and staff being tested every 3-4 days. Whilst the QSL has followed the Bundesliga model by allowing players and staff to be initially quarantined for 14 days in a hotel, before undergoing home quarantine after that period.

 Whilst the league has taken an extra precaution to ensure that everyone is safe to play. “48 hours before the game, anyone who has not been tested cannot join the squad” explained Abbassi. 

Players to have had to make difficult decisions regarding family with the vast majority of professional players in Qatar electing to stay alone in the country. For Aron Gunnarsson, he felt it was the best way to focus on getting the campaign completed. 

“I sent my wife and kids back to Iceland, the country is quite alright with the coronavirus situation. My kids are going back to nursey in Iceland, so it's easier for them. For me, I am looking forward to getting football done. It will be difficult, but we are looking to get started again. Your job is to play football, so you cannot complain when the games come thick and fast.” 

Perhaps more controversially, the league insisted that clubs and players signed a pledge and if broken would face strict fines for breaking medical protocol.

“In order to ensure the safety of all players and coaches, we asked the players to sign a pledge committing to home quarantine, but we expected that as much as it happened in Europe, some players would take risks without thinking about their teammates, and this is why we are keeping an eye on them. For us, it is clear any player who disregards the safety of his team and opponents cannot be tolerated.”

With footballers being footballers, no fewer than 15 players and two clubs have been fined for disobeying the QSL protocol including Medhi Benatia, Baghdad Bounedjah and Qatar international Hamad Ismail. However, it seems the stance taken by the QSL has worked and there has been no official word of positive tests amongst players or staff.

So through superior infrastructure, adapting to the threat of COVID-19, rigorous testing and even harsher fines football in Qatar is back. Yet the question remains, when will fans be allowed in the stadiums?

With the 2022 World Cup fast approaching the Gulf country desperately needs test events with fans as they prepare to welcome the world. That will now be the most pressing concern for the footballing family in the country, after getting the QSL back up and running.