Aspire Academy

Aspire Academy

أكاديمية أسباير
Former names	ASPIRE Academy for Sports Excellence
Location	Doha Qatar
Coordinates	25°16′05″N 51°26′37″E / 25.268071°N 51.443605°E / 25.268071; 51.443605
Opened	2004

Coordinates: 25°16′05″N 51°26′37″E / 25.268071°N 51.443605°E / 25.268071; 51.443605 Aspire Academy (Arabic: أكاديمية أسباير ‘Akādīmiyat ‘Asbāyr) is a sports academy based in Qatar, founded in 2004 with the goal to scout and help develop Qatari athletes, whilst also providing them with secondary school education.

History

Aspire Academy graduates in 2012.

Aspire Academy was established by an Emiri Decree, No. 16 of 2004,^[1] as an independent government-funded agency that reported directly to HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani through HH the Heir Apparent Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani.

Later, an Emiri Decree – No.1 of 2008^[2] – incorporated the Aspire Academy as a strategic business unit (SBU) into the new, parent organization of Aspire Zone Foundation. Despite the switch from an independent government body to an SBU, the original purpose and objectives of the Aspire Academy remained the same.

On 17 November 2005, HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani led an opening ceremony of the Aspire Dome, essentially signaling the global announcement of Aspire Academy as an international institute of high standing. Over the years, it has received international recognition.^[3][4][5]

Talent Identification Program

Aspire Academy's Talent Identification (TID) Program^[6] is a nationwide initiative to propel the state of Qatar into the international sporting arena. Working in close coordination with the Qatar National Olympic Committee, and the Supreme Education Council (SEC), its primary aim is to find students within schools in Qatar who have exceptional athletic talent and offer them a student-athlete scholarship within Aspire.

Curriculum

Aspire Academy has adopted a comprehensive concept of curriculum, which does not rely solely on books and courses.

Its courses and subjects feature studies of:^[7]

• Arabic
• Islamic Studies
• English
• Mathematics
• Science: Biology, Chemistry, Physics
• Social Studies: History, Geography.

School Accreditation

On January 21, 2016, Aspire Academy received international accreditation from the Council of International School (CIS).^[8]

HOPE Project

The H.O.P.E Project – Habituating Overseas Professional Experience –^[7] was launched to provide its young football players (ages 18+) with the opportunity to experience training and playing for well-established professional football clubs in Europe. By sending a selection of its football players to these football organizations, the academy aims to help them gain experience, develop their skills and compete with multinational players coming from various multi-cultural backgrounds. International clubs includes Real Madrid,^[9] Villareal,^[10] Red Bull Salzburg,^[11] K.A.S. Eupen, Cultural Leonesa. LASK Linz^[12] and Real Sociedad.^[13]

Aspire Football Dreams

Aspire Football Dreams^[14] is a humanitarian football project currently existent in 18 developing countries on three continents, aimed at empowering youth of the world by identifying football talents. Prepared and planned in 2005/2006 and launched on the ground in 2007, the Aspire Football Dreams project has already tested over two million young footballers from Asia, Latin America and Africa, as part of the largest-ever talent search within the sport. The project relies on a team of professional coaches and scouts, as well as thousands of volunteers.^[5] It was established in 2005.

The team has participated in international events, such as the 2011 VFF Cup, where they competed against national teams, and placed runners-up.^[6]

Aspire cooperates with the national football associations of the youngsters involved.

Senegal Academy

Aspire set up an Academy in Senegal in 2008-2009.^[15]

One of the notable events they won was the 2011 Milk Cup, in which they defeated a Manchester United youth team 5-1.^[16][17] They have also won the Ciocaria Cup in Italy.^[18]

National teams

As of 2015, more than 40 of the scholarship recipients have represented their national football associations (including Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Thailand, Paraguay and Mali) from U17 to A-national teams. No players have been naturalized/represented Qatar, as the academy states that this is not the aim of the project.^[19]

Achievements

Football

In 2014, the Qatar U-19 National Football Team, composed solely of past or current Aspire Academy student-athletes, won the 38th edition of the AFC U-19 Championship in Myanmar, for the first time in Qatar's history.

Athletics

• Mutaz Essa Barshim, Aspire Academy's graduate is the current World Indoor Championships title holder in High Jump and has the second best outdoor high jump in history ^[20][21] set in the 2014 Diamond League.^[22]
• Hammer Thrower, Ashraf El Seify, graduated from Aspire Academy in 2014, won a gold medal at the 2012 Asian Junior Athletics Championships and 2012 World Junior Athletics Championships setting a new World Junior Record^[23] and World Youth Best.^[24] In 2014, Ashraf became the 1st athlete to successfully defend his title at the IAAF World Junior Championships.^[25]

Global ambassadors

Aspire Academy has chosen an inspiring group of sports people who have achieved outstanding international sporting success in their sporting journey to represent Aspire Academy as Global Ambassadors.^[26]

• Xavi Hernandez
• Raul Gonzalez Blanco
• Lionel Messi
• Pele
• Hicham El Guerrouj

Controversies

The Aspire Dome at night

There have been several controversies regarding the academy. One such controversy is the allegation that Qatar bought votes to host the 2022 World Cup with the academy, with critics stating that Aspire sent scouts to Thailand and Guatemala, countries with little footballing history, due to both countries having representation on the FIFA Executive Committee. In addition, Paraguay, one of the countries with a recently opened program, is home to CONMEBOL president Nicolas Leoz.^[27] However, the statements were denied by Qatar.^[28]

Most notably, there have been many allegations that Qatar plans to assimilate academy players into their 2022 World Cup squad.^[29] This is bolstered by Qatar's lenient policy on naturalization of athletes for sports.^[30][31]

See also

• Aspire Dome
• Aspire Zone Foundation
• Aspire Park
• Aspire Tower

References

External links

• Official website

Educational institutions in Qatar
Primary and secondary schools	Qatari system Tarek bin Zyad Independent Secondary School for Boys Jassim bin Hamad Independent Secondary School for Boys Rawda bint Mohamed Independent Secondary School for Girls Omar bin Al-Khattab Independent School for Boys British system Cambridge International School for Girls The Cambridge School Compass International School Doha Academy Doha British School Doha College Dukhan English School Newton International School Nord Anglia International School Al Khor Park House English School Qatar International School Sherborne Qatar American system ACS International School Doha American School of Doha GEMS American Academy Qatar Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions at Qatar Indian system Doha Modern Indian School M.E.S Indian School French system Lycée Bonaparte Lycée Franco-Qatarien Voltaire International Baccalaureate Al Jazeera Academy Qatar Academy Other systems Aspire Academy International School of Choueifat Bangladesh MHM School & College Qatar Canadian School German International School Doha Japan School of Doha Pak Shama School Philippine School Doha Qatar Turkish School
Colleges and universities	Private universities Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar Doha Institute for Graduate Studies Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar Northwestern University in Qatar Stenden University Texas A&M University at Qatar Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar Public universities Qatar University