As part Qatar-USA Year of Culture 2021 celebrations, the Qatar Football Association (QFA), the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), and the Qatar Museums Authority (QMA), in cooperation with the Qatar Women’s Sports Committee (QWSC), organized a sports festival that brought together the Qatar women’s soccer team and the American Washington Spirit team.

The ceremony took place in the presence of Mansour Al-Ansari, General Secretary of QFA, H E Mrs Greta C. Holtz, Chargé d’Affairs of the US Embassy in Doha, HE Frank Gillet, Ambassador of France in Doha, and several representatives of diplomatic and consular missions and members of the diplomatic corps.

The attendees also included Qatari football stars headed by Mubarak Mustafa, Ahmed Khalil, and Lulwa Al-Marri, Chairperson of QWSC, Maha Abdul Jabbar, Assistant Secretary of QWSC, and Amna Al Qasimi, Executive Director of QWSC, in addition to Yassin Ismail, the Qatar basketball star.

Al-Ansari, delivered a speech on this occasion, during which he welcomed the attendees, praising at the same time the close cooperation witnessed by the Qatari-American relations at all levels, especially sports and underlining the first participation of Qatar in the Gold Cup-2021 in America.

The Sports Festival held on Tuesday, saw Qatar  Women’s national team take on the Washington Spirit team at Ersal- one of the training venues designated for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ matches.

The match was preceded by a training session between the two teams on Monday.

The Washington Spirit team players and club owner, Steve Baldwin, were welcomed in Doha by the US Embassy in Qatar. The players spent a week in Doha during which many activities took place.

It is noteworthy that the Qatar-USA 2021 Year of Culture aims to enhance cultural and artistic exchange between the two countries and embodies the renewed commitment to support mutual understanding between them and deepen intercultural dialogue.

The cultural year 2021, which has been carefully designed, will include a wide-ranging program of exhibitions, festivals, and bilateral cultural exchanges to be held in both countries.

Qatar Museums (QM) had announced in September that the United States of America will be the official partner nation for the 2021 Year of Culture.

A cooperative agreement was signed between the State of Qatar and the United States of America during the 2020 Qatar-United States Strategic Dialogue in Washington, D.C.