The Qatar Football Association (QFA) and Qatar Shell have celebrated National Sport Day with the Koora Time “Winner Stays On” football tournament, which was officially kicked-off by HE the Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada at the Aspire Zone.
The whole-day tournament, which gathered more than 4,500 participants from across the country, was open to men, women, and children, who shared their love for football.
The football tournament was part of Koora Time, a five-year sustainable initiative designed to improve the health and well-being of Qatar’s youth through football.
The community-inspired initiative supports the social and human development pillar of Qatar National Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy (NDS) by engaging the youth.
The Koora Time National Sport Day activities also featured a comprehensive fan zone area, which offered numerous fun and non-football related activities, including human foosball, volleyball, and aerobics.
Koora Time was recently recognised for its positive contribution to Qatari society. The programme received the “AFC Dream of Asia Award” for its corporate social responsibility activities and won the “Dar Al Sharq National CSR Award” for best sports initiative in the country.
In 2014, its flagship programme Il’Ab We’Yana was awarded the “Best Youth Development Initiative” at the Sport Industry Awards after an independent sports education research agency published its findings, which showed that the initiative had significantly improved the participants’ Body Mass Index (BMI) rate by 89%.
National Sport Day was launched in 2012 by HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to promote the importance of sport and physical activity in leading a healthy and active lifestyle.