Almoez Ali: “We realised our dream at Aspire; we’re ready for Qatar 2022”

Qatar international Almoez Ali spoke about the considerable influence which the Aspire Academy, where he studied academics and sports, has had in his life. The footballer believes that it is thanks to Aspire that the current Qatar national team squad boasts 13 players who were all classmates at the Aspire Academy. It is also significant that current national team coach, Félix Sánchez, worked with the same group of players all those years ago. Sánchez was previously one of the youth coaches at Aspire before taking the national team job in 2017.

Aspire played an important role in my life - Almoez Ali

In conversation with AFPlayeinsigh program, Almoez spoke about his dream of participating in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, as well and looked back at the key periods of his football career.

“Aspire Academy formed part of a very important phase in my life; it helped me in many things, such as being successful in studies and playing football. Most people who are passionate about football had a dream since childhood that maybe one day they will become a professional footballer. That can affect their studies, but at Aspire Academy we were able to be successful in both fields. Another of the things that makes Aspire so unique is that it is able to provide you with everything you need if one day you do make it in the world of football, because your dream grows with every day that passes. Before joining Aspire, I played for local teams, but later I started playing against international teams. I think that Aspire Academy is different to all other academies in the world,” he explained.

As for the Aspire graduates who play for Qatar at international level, Almoez added, "We’ve been together for the last 11 years, and so of course we have a very good relationships with each other because we were not only schoolmates, but we were also team mates out on the field. I think that because of that, we are all very similar, we have a lot on common; 13 players from the Qatari senior squad are Aspire Academy graduates, and from there we can go on to achieve our dream in real life”.

He continued, "Of course, as a group of Aspire graduates, there is a big reason why we stand out in that we have had the same coach for so long. I joined Aspire five years ago when Félix Sánchez was working there - so the relationship that the coach has had with his footballers has lasted for more than 15 years; he has been our teacher from the beginning to the end”.

Looking forward to Qatar 2022

Regarding the 2022 World Cup, Almoez concluded, “We have been preparing for the World Cup for quite some time now. It was always our dream to someday play we dreamed of participating in a World Cup. The fans ask us to play well and prepare well for the tournament”.