Introduction

Darren Mortimer, a physical education teacher, arrived in Doha, in the State of Qatar from England in 2008 with a passion for sport and in particular a love of football that he had carried with him from a young age.

In fact, Darren started playing football at junior school and would practice with his friends at the weekends – often Darren would be the last one home from the park. In senior school Darren played as a striker for the school team and at the age of 12 started playing football at the weekends for his local team. After graduating from University Darren played semi professional football, for a number of clubs including Stevenage Football Club, currently within League One in England, and also became involved in managing football clubs and amateur football leagues. Darren soon became entrenched within the amateur football community in Hertfordshire, England.

Arriving in Qatar

In early 2008, Darren grabbed the opportunity to come and work in Qatar and arrived in Doha in August that year. Qatar’s warm welcome and friendly community ensured Darren settled quickly into his new home and not long after arriving he started to search for other footballers in Doha. He soon discovered a number of fellow devotees and started playing friendly football matches regularly.

The World Cup / The Qatar International Amateur Football League

In 2010 Darren waited, with the rest of the world, for FIFA’s announcement regarding the location of the 2022 World Cup and, with the rest of Doha, celebrated in the streets when FIFA awarded Qatar the greatest football event on earth. Inspired by Qatar’s success, and its love of sport and passion for football, Darren committed to creating an 11 a-side international amateur football league, which would be open to all ethnic groups, to assist Qatar in encouraging participation in sport through developing grassroots football.

Darren pursued his vision and in 2011 he formally created the Qatar International Amateur Football League (the “QIAFL”) and 11 a-side amateur football, under the QIAFL’s management, was created in Qatar for the 2011 – 12 season.

Current Position

Coming into the 2012 – 13 season Darren met John Savage, a keen sportsman who shared Darren’s passion for football and together, with a volunteer committee supporting the QIAFL on issues pertaining to football, the pair of football devotees set about professionally managing and growing the QIAFL to provide amateur footballers with a professional experience that would last a lifetime.

Principal Objective and Values

The QIAFL’s Principal Objective is to assist Qatar, through to the 2022 FIFA World Cup and beyond, in inspiring participation in sport, across all ethnic groups, genders and age ranges, through football initiatives, including developing its own league/s and delivering individual sporting events.

Specifically, the QIAFL is committed to fulfilling its objective through excellent service delivery based upon a number of core values including: (1) professionalism; (2) inclusion; (3) respect and (4) integrity.

The above is reflected in the fact that in the 2012 -13 season the QIAFL includes 20 high quality amateur football teams with over 450 registered players originating from the following regions across the globe:

(A) Middle East and North Africa – 19%;
(B) Europe – 74%; and
(C) Rest of the World – 7%.

Of course, the QIAFL has encountered obstacles on its path, however, with the professional management and the support of its teams and their players the QIAFL has managed to overcome those hurdles and remains committed to the developing grass roots football in Qatar.

The Future

In the 2013 – 14 season the QIAFL will expand its adults’ league to include more divisions and, in accordance with its flexible business plan, will commence implementing its strategy to encourage participation in sport through football initiatives, across all ethnic groups, genders and age ranges, and deliver a number of memorable sporting events that will become a regular feature on Qatar’s sporting calendar.

About Qatar International FC

To reflect the growing popularity of amateur football in the State of Qatar, in November 2013 the QFA inaugurated the Qatar Amateur League, with Qatar International FC, the official representative team of the QIAFL.