What will be the legacy left behind by the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022?

Hello! Welcome back to?PITCHSIDE MONITOR,?your one stop guide to club management.?This week, we have a special edition dedicated to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and its legacy. We will:

• Explore whether the Qatar Stars League can be amongst the top 3 leagues in the world
• Hear from Sergio Bravo , who will tell us more about how the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will help strengthen football in Qatar
• Analyse the squads at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

Let's dive into our section on club management first.

It is mid-November. For once, we are not thinking about 'Movember', the feast of St. Martin, Thanksgiving, St. Andrew’s Day, or even our club level matches. In mid-November 2022, all club football is done and festivals are?forgotten. We must now rewire our brains which is firmly stuck to the traditional football calendar and talk about the football world cup!

Beyond the forthcoming action on the field, what really ignites our imagination is the legacy this World Cup is going to leave in Qatar and the wider world. Heeding the advice of Gianni Infantino , we are not talking about political or social changes, but rather focusing on football (bearing in mind that it remains debatable whether football can exist completely detached from the political, social, and economic reality of where it is played). The international game is full of excitement and has been for the best part of the last 150 years (the actual anniversary falling on 30 November: 150 years to the day that Scotland hosted England in the first international and supposedly introduced the world to the game). International matches are merely a welcome distraction to the bread-and-butter action provided by our club teams every week of the year across the world. So, what will be the football legacy remaining following the World Cup in Qatar? Development of the club level game in the country will be the real long-term litmus test of success.

The Qatar Stars League has undergone a monumental transformation over the course of the past few years and has tasted success on a continental level: reaching the number 1 position in Asian football a few years ago and delegating ???? ???? ??????? | Al-Sadd Sports Club to the Club World Cup in 2011.

However, this is not enough to stake a claim to be a global level club football 'property'. So, what is required?

Qatar has a number of inputs that indicate it could become a global football force. It has the economic resources, networks, production capacities, and a global language as Arabic is one of the six official languages of the United Nations . Yet the question that remains is: even with the experience of hosting a world-level football macro-event, how can a small country with a population of under 3 million people become a global leader in club football?

At LTT Sports, we think there are two potential ways to go about achieving it. One, the organic way based on incremental development of internal resources and traditional growth and two, an out-of-the-box way which would require looking in a different direction as to what club football actually means in the modern world.

In the first approach, the focus of development has to be the Qatar Stars League and its clubs. In order to achieve global status, the league will need to boast world class players, coaches, infrastructure, and match production. This should cost a lot of money. As such, in order to be sustainable, the revenue streams also need to be adequate to the spending.

Stadiums need to be full and broadcasting deals for a global-level league must generate at least $1 billion annually with a healthy mix between domestic and international rights. A special focus needs to be given to the development of near-the-field and off-the-field specialists and managers. Additionally, the significance of the league organisation itself should take on a different meaning, because generating the quality required for a world-level domestic football competition from such a small ecosystem would mean optimal decision making and visionary leadership. Big ecosystems can afford to wait for its clubs to develop organically by themselves and expect a higher quality in terms of results. In smaller ecosystems, every decision needs to be pin-point and resources have to be optimised in order to succeed. Demographics play a key role here. In order to be a competition functioning at the top level, quality has to be more widespread which means that development has to be driven from somewhere and the most obvious candidates for this role is the league.

To be truly global, this competition must be interesting not only to the people in Qatar, but also in the wider Middle East, Asia, and beyond. Putting together the World Cup in 2022 is the culmination of a 20-year project for Qatar. In the same way, elevating the domestic league to global status would take at least another similar period. Global level status means a consistent quality over a period of time and recognition by peers within the football industry. Let us take the example of the Major League Soccer here. The MLS held its inaugural season in the same year the World Cup was staged in the US in 1996. More than a quarter of a century later, their development has been very impressive, but probably not enough yet to put them in the top-5 of global football club competitions. Not to forget, this case is in a sports-mad and sport business-savvy continent-sized country!

The second approach is to utilise an external dimension for developing a global-level club football offering. If building up from within is too complex or not realistic due to various objective constraints, why not bring existing global level club football to Qatar on a regular basis instead thereby making it a recognised host location? In a way, it would follow the model of UEFA with its flagship UEFA Champions League product where the confederation is merely acting as a tournament organiser for clubs that have grown up organically in their own domestic competitions. Qatar could develop a combined approach: providing both the competition and the venues, as well as the production and broadcasting capabilities. As restrictions on official club competition organisation become less rigid, could a 'Qatar Super League' host top clubs from across the world in a regular-fixture format of competitive matches with one of the Qatari domestic teams as the host? Perhaps, it could become the headquarters location for a Formula 1 style globetrotting club competition that would bring top football match ups in a competitive setting to various corners of the world in 'super weekends' hosted in the likes of London, New York, Buenos Aires, Cape Town or Doha.

Naturally, the current football consensus probably gives preference to the first option. Organic development in a geographically fixed ecosystem means that competition development necessarily becomes a prisoner of demographics. Club football starts from the domestic ecosystem. Smaller countries are not able to generate the extraordinary broadcasting rights needed for a global level domestic competition. If other methods such as non-market valuations or direct state support are utilised, the traditional football world reacts rather negatively to this. To be truly transformational, incremental development needs to be underpinned by some exceptional conditions in order to deliver true greatness. In 1992 when The Premier League League was starting in England, it remains debatable whether even the biggest optimists from the group that launched it, could fully imagine where this new competition would end up 30 years later. Today, others can attempt to emulate that development because The Premier League has taught us about the targets that can be set. However, if you try to follow that development path yourself, the best you will get is a knock-off copy.

So, as we watch the action from a unique November World Cup, we can continue wondering what the legacy of this event will be for Qatari domestic football in the years to come. Perhaps in 30 years’ time, we will look back at 2022 as the start of something truly great for the Qatar Stars League.

Our shoutout in this week's newsletter goes to Hani Ballan , the CEO of the Qatar Stars League. He began his professional career in the football industry as a professional referee, and enjoyed a long spell as an official FIFA referee from 1998 to 2004. His service to football has seen him take up various roles within FIFA , Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Qatar Football Association . In 2014, following his successful two-year spell as Deputy CEO of the Qatar Stars League, he was promoted as the CEO. He is a celebrated author. Ballan supervised the Arabic translation and production of the International Football Association Board (IFAB)'s 'Laws of the Game' and its considerations.

This week in our Football Talks section, we met with Sergio Bravo , Project Manager at the Qatar Football Association Secretary General's office. We asked Sergio a couple of questions. Here is what he had to say.

1.Do you think the World Cup atmosphere strengthens the importance of football in Qatar? If so, how? Well, the FIFA World Cup is the pinnacle of tournaments. There is nothing bigger than this when it comes to football. It is probably the biggest event in the sports ecosystem in terms of generating revenues, expectations, attendance, TV viewership, and recognition. The World Cup is a global stage for the players to get exposure as well. Once a host country is awarded the rights to host the tournament and preparations begin, it is almost innate that, the passion with which the residents of that country and fans of the sport experience football will be translated to overall energy of the country. It is not just the money that host country invests in dressing up the country, rather it is the energy that the people vibrate that will make the World Cup experience unique. This probably is one of the things that was lacking in Qatar. The fans of the country have the passion for the sport, yet they lacked the will or motivation to go experience games at the stadium like in other countries. Once you live a World Cup and experience it in the stadiums and fan festivals, there is nothing like it. The World Cup will have a huge importance on how football is perceived by the residents in Qatar. I think that it will strengthen the importance of football in Qatar. The World Cup will raise the bar and will give a different perception to the people here. They will no longer see football the same. It will provide an impetus for them to experience football.

2.How will the World Cup provide a legacy for football development in Qatar? Legacy is not just about infrastructure. Infrastructure is only one element of it. The stadiums developed for the World Cup are state-of-the-art and are thought about really well in terms of sustainability. This is only one tangible asset. There are many other intangible assets, as answered in my first question. When you have an impact on the people and how they perceive football, this is going to change the way they want to participate in football in Qatar. People will want to partake in football from a grassroots level. Probably the younger generation will want to take up football from a very young age. This is part of the legacy the tournament will have in Qatar. Once you experience the World Cup as a child, as a teenager, or be it whoever, everything gets intertwined. People will feel that connection with football. It will ignite something huge - perhaps more people will want to start working in football or play the game. Even if there are only few such stories, it will all be worth it. Part of the legacy is also related to the fans around the world. This tournament can serve as an eye opener for many people to the Arab world and the Arab hospitality. It is not just football development, but there are many different levels to how the World Cup in Qatar will leave a legacy behind.

In our Bottom 49 section this week, we will be analysing the national team squads which are announced for the World Cup Qatar 2022.

Of all the players representing their respective countries in Qatar, 50% of them play for one of the big-5 leagues in Europe. 18% of the players practice their trade in the bottom-49 leagues of Europe and 27% are from non-European football leagues. We will be providing more analysis from this research via our LinkedIn page, so make sure you don't miss those updates!

As this newsletter is a special edition dedicated to football in Qatar, our Football Insight section this week is an Arabic translation of the '12 Quality Areas' we have developed .

We developed the 12 Quality Areas for the European Club Association (ECA) aiming to bridge the gap between tangible and intangible licensing and quality insurance approaches by boosting talent development capabilities of clubs. More on the report can be read here.

In our last newsletter, we asked you, "How many Swiss players (registered) are playing in the traditional top-5 leagues of Europe?". The correct answer to this question is: 7 players in The Premier League , 8 in Bundesliga International GmbH , 5 in LFP - Ligue de Football Professionnel , 4 in Lega Serie A and 1 in LALIGA .

This week our question to you is, "Out of 619 players at the?UEFA ?#EURO2020 ?how many players were registered in one of the?#Bottom49 ?leagues?". You can answer the question here. Stay tuned for the answer in our next newsletter.

We would like to take the opportunity to highlight our work done during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our team put together 6 issues evaluating the impact of Covid-19 on football. The 6 issues can be read and downloaded here.

Our Regional Associate, Fathi Abou El Gadaiel , will be hosting a panel at the World Football Summit Africa which takes place from November 16-17 at Durban in South Africa.

Fathi will be moderating the session on, "Rebuilding the world, one ball at a time: Changing lives through Sport". He will be joined by Kennedy M. , Robin Petersen , Sudesh Singh, and Mapulane Phohleli .

Konstantin Kornakov attended the Football Business Meetup in Bratislava organised by FBIN .

It also gives us great pleasure to announce the opening of The LTT Sports Embassy in Doha!As usual LTT will be at the heart of events and for 3 weeks, our Regional Associate Fathi Abou El Gadaiel, will be located in Al Gharrafa district in the middle of 3 World Cup stadiums, Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium, Education City Stadium, and Khalifa International stadium. Reach out to him to organise a face-to-face meeting and talk all things about club management!

The LTT Sports team?continued the series on Football Club Management in Issue 145 of?fcbusiness Magazine . In the latest issue, the LTT Sports team discuss the various roles and functions commonly seen in football's business operations. Read the entire article here.

That brings us to the end of this week’s newsletter. We hope you found eye-opening insights from our content this week. Each week, we will be curating exclusive content for you from the club management ecosystem. So, stay tuned for more and don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter?here !

LTT Sports is an advisory firm focused on connecting football strategy and operations based on experience, analysis and a strong network. At LTT Sports, we have created a set of services for football organisations, providing transversal solutions at any level of the professional football pyramid – to boost performance off the pitch, directly impacting on-pitch results.

*** Disclaimer: LTT Sports is an independent think tank aimed to be a platform of discussion amongst football stakeholders. The answers received for our interviews are personal views of the interviewee and/ or the organisation he or she may represent and strictly do not represent our views on the subject matter.

Contributors to this week's newsletter: Konstantin Kornakov , Fathi Abou El Gadaiel , Olivier Jarosz , Adam Metelski , Damian Szurgot & 321 Transfers.

Editor: Ajay Abraham