Doha has undoubtedly become the leading sports hub of the Gulf Region. With the much publicized first ever winter FIFA World Cup heading to Qatar in 2022, it’s often easy to forget that there are a host of other sporting activities taking place throughout the year in and around Doha.
No matter if you’re a die-hard sports fanatic, or a casual viewer using your time in Doha to rack up the experiences, many of these events are even easier to attend thanks to the inclusion of the Doha metro.
With many Metro stations strategically built near key locations, you’re able to take in the full fan experience with the metro culture for some of the biggest football, tennis and athletic events that take place through the year.
Tennis
There are two major tennis events that happen around January and February here in Doha, and both the WTA and ATP stars often use the Total Open and Qatar Exxon Mobil Open respectively as their season kick off. However, there are often also smaller local events that take place through the year at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.
To access the stadium with absolute ease, you can take the Doha Metro Red Line, and exit at the Corniche station. The QTF signs in the metro will guide you directly to the stadium.
Athletics
Doha is one of the premier stops on the World athletics calendar. There are many world class facilities that have showcased major events such as the Diamond League and World Athletics championships, but the showpiece theater of dreams is the Khalifa International Stadium (which doubles as a major football stadium), and the surrounding Aspire Zone facilities.
To access both the stadium and Aspire Zone, you need to take the Doha Metro Gold Line towards Villaggio, and then exit one stop before that the aptly named, Sport City station.
Motorsport
Losail International Circuit traditionally serves as host to the Qatar GP, the opening racing on the MotoGP calendar. However, the showcase track is also home to a number of other international and national ranked events throughout. And rumor has it, that Qatar will be the newest destination for F1 Grand Prix!
For major events, Doha Metro offers a free bus service from the Lusail Metro Station to the venue. To access this station, join the Red Line to the final stop of Lusail QNB.
Football
From now until the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup, residents are absolutely spoilt for choice for World Class football stadiums. And best yet, most all of them are accessible via metro – if not directly, then by an additional metro bus shuttle service for major events.
For the Stadium of the Year award-nominated stadiums such as the Education City Stadium and the Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium, the Metro Green Line is your go to mode of transport. The Education City metro station will give you easy access to its namesake stadium, while the latter is just one stop over at Al Rayyan (the last stop on the Green Line aka, the Mall of Qatar stop).
If you’re looking to take in a local QSL league or cup game, jumping off on the Gold Line’s Al Sudan station will take you within walking distance of Al Sadd’s home stadium, the Jassim Bin Hamad stadium. (It’s also worth noting that even close is the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena, which often serves host to events such as Handball and Badminton).
So if parking or traffic has always been your excuse not to attend sporting events, prepare yourself to have no more excuses. Thanks to the Doha Metro, you’re as good as sorted for the rest of the sporting year.
