With its inaugural staging this November, Aspire4Sport seems sure to quickly become a major fixture in the sporting calendar, featuring an incredible and unique mix of forums, exhibitions and one-off sporting events. And visitors can expect a warm welcome to the magnificent Aspire Dome.

Tariq al Naa­ma, Acting Director General of Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence on announcing the event: “We at Aspire look forward to welcoming the sporting world to Doha in November for Aspire4Sport and we will ensure it is an unforgettable event”.

Among the first to sign up to exhibit were European Champions Internazionale de Milano who will also be sending a high-powered delegation including CEO Ernesto Paolillo and Head of CSR Nicoletta Flutti. Many other top clubs from both football and other sports will also be taking part including FC Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Chelsea and Ajax.

From left: Vince Cooper, Tariq al Naa­ma, Acting Director General of Aspire
Academy for Sports Excellence and Prof. Franco Ascani FICTS International President

Another major plus is the appearance of 4-time Olympic Gold Medallist and 8-time World Champion Michael Johnson. The American now rune his own ‘Michael Johnson Per­formance Academy’ in Texas and will be discussing his career and his thoughts on the training and development of youngsters. The avide range of forums taking place include discussions specific to stadium construction, sports marketing, sports media and sports medicine (during which delegates can visit the stunning Aspetar Medical Facility).To lighten the mood there will also be a number of special ‘Stare on a Stool’ session where top stars from various sports talk about their careers and experiences.

Day Four of Aspire4Sport will be dedicated to Corporate Social Responsibility and a num­ber of speakers from around the world will gather to discuss CSR and how it can be used both for social good and to improve the circumstances of the less-fortunate. To this end, A4S has appointed Reach out to Asia and the Little Prince Hospital in Brazil and appointed the two as its official charities. The final night of Aspire4Sport will feature a Charity/Awards Dinner, hosted by Barwa Estates, featuring many of the stars present and the four-day event which will benefit the event’s two charities and also honour people from specific sporting areas with special Aspire4Sport Awards.


With Doha being selected as this year’s “Capital of Arab Culture”, another significant part of Aspire4Sport will be a close look at Sport’s cultural aspects. There will be a forum exami­ning sporting culture, with members including high-ranking official from the Qatari Ministry of Culture. Through a link up with FICTS (Federation Internationale Cinema Television Spor­tifs) Aspire4Sport delegates will also be able to see the winning entries in this year’s FICTS Awards which are being decided in Milan this October.

What makes Aspire4Sport truly unique is the evening events. Having successfully staged a full Brazil – England International match last year the Khalifa Stadium – located next door to the Aspire Dome – will, on Wednesday November 17th, stage a full international between Brazil and Argentina.

Preceding the match the “World Cup Icons” take centre with some of the greatest characters from the last 40 years of the World Cup reliving their moments of glory. The full line-up is yet to be revealed but Hristo Stoichkov, Gabriel Batistuta, Osvaldo Ardiles, Lothar Matthaeus and Roger Milla are among those set to appear.

Also among the evening events will be a Tennis Legends night which will include a rematch of perhaps the sports most famous rivalry with John McEnroe facing old foe Bjorn Borg. McEnroe is looking forward to the match. The man who won seven grand slam singles titles and another nine in doubles said recently: “I am extremely excited about being part of Aspire4Sport and, of course getting on the court again with Bjorn”,

Also taking part in the Tennis Legends will be Romanian showman Ilie Nastase and crowd pleaser Mansour Bahrami. And there will be more to add! Aspire4Sport will be adding more exciting events and features over the next few weeks.

Be sure to check out www.aspire4sport.com for regularly updated information.