Qatar Airways to establish “Qatar Airways & Aspire Academy – Football Dreams Africa” with Aspire Academy

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DOHA, Qatar, 2014-12-22 — /Travel PR News/ — Qatar Airways has announced its partnership with Aspire Academy to support this year’s edition of the Aspire Football Dreams project by forming “Qatar Airways & Aspire Academy – Football Dreams Africa”.

Aspire Football Dreams is a fascinating and unique project aimed at empowering the development of youth by identifying and training young football talent. As part of the Football Dreams project this year, Aspire Academy has begun scouting for football talent in Africa. Once selected, finalists will be offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to train in Barcelona and play a friendly game against one of the world’s most popular football clubs FC Barcelona’s youth team.

As FC Barcelona’s global main sponsor, Qatar Airways has been associated with a series of initiatives involving the world-renowned football team in order to spread the love of football to all corners of the world. Football Dreams Africa is the latest initiative that will offer talented young footballers in Africa dedicated training and a memorable experience of playing with one of the world’s best football teams.

Commenting on the partnership with Aspire Academy, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker said: “Qatar Airways has a proud tradition of supporting meaningful socially relevant initiatives and we believe that the Qatar Airways & Aspire Academy – Football Dreams Africa project is an excellent opportunity to make the dreams of young footballers in Africa come true.  We aim to use this project as a platform to nurture budding football talent and highlight the effectiveness of sports as a key development tool.”

“Giving young people in Africa the chance to fulfil their potential while being able to make a big step towards becoming a professional football player has been very important for Aspire Academy in the past and we are happy and proud to have partnered with Qatar Airways on this project,” said Ivan Bravo, Director General of Aspire Academy, on the new partnership.

Javier Faus, First VP and the Head of FC Barcelona Finance and Strategy Department, said: “This is one more example of the projects resulting from our sponsorship agreement with Qatar Airways. Through this joint initiative with Aspire and Qatar Airways, Barça is offering the possibility for young footballers, in this case from the African continent, to be able to enjoy a unique experience and, at the same time, is reasserting its commitment to sport as a part of education.”

To support this unique initiative, Qatar Airways welcomes fans to support the Football Dreams Africa programme by registering at http://www.qatarairways.com/footballdreamsafrica. All registered supporters will be entered into a draw, and Qatar Airways will be offering 20 lucky winners tickets to Barcelona in addition to a tour of FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium.

Qatar Airways currently operates 10 flights-a-week to Barcelona which will rise to a double daily service as of February 16, 2015. The airline has seen rapid growth in just 17 years of operation, to the point where today it is flying a modern fleet of 144 aircraft to 146 key business and leisure destinations across the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Africa, North America and South America.

For image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/qatarairways/15450456223/

For video: http://youtu.be/ICVwfmY1wSA

Notes to Editors:

About Qatar Airways:
Qatar Airways celebrated its one year anniversary, in October 2014, of joining the oneworld global alliance. Qatar Airways was the first Gulf carrier to join this global airline alliance, enabling its passengers to benefit from almost 1,000 airports in more than 150 countries, with 14,250 daily departures. The award-winning oneworld alliance was named the World’s Best Airline Alliance 2014 by Skytrax for the second year running this year.

At the Farnborough Air Show, the airline placed an order for 100 Boeing 777X aircraft, taking Qatar Airways’ orders to more than 340 aircraft with a value of US $70 billion.

For more information, visit our homepage www.qatarairways.com or our sites on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, and YouTube.

For Qatar Airways corporate images, please click here: http://www.qatarairways.com/corporateimages

For further information contact:
Qatar Airways Group, Corporate Communications Department
Tel: +974 40222072, Fax: +974 40225350
E-mail: qrmedia@qatarairways.com.qa
Website: www.qatarairways.com

About Aspire Academy
Since opening its doors in 2004, Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence has become one of the foremost national sports academies in the world. Working as part of the Aspire Zone Foundation – an international sport destination – Aspire Academy is at the heart of a sporting revolution currently taking place in Qatar and around the region.

The Academy is conceiving, promoting and implementing game-changing excellence in sports training and elite athlete development that is enabling an entire generation of talented, disciplined and committed individuals, both Qataris and internationals to pursue their sports dreams.

Together with the other members of the Aspire Zone Foundation (Aspire Logistics and ASPETAR Qatar Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Hospital), the Aspire Academy is developing sports champions, promoting healthy lifestyles and galvanizing the sports economy of today, and the future.

www.aspire.qa

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Qatar Airways & Aspire Academy – Football Dreams Africa

Qatar Airways & Aspire Academy – Football Dreams Africa