DOHA (Qatar): Dutch football legend Ronald de Boer said that Asian champions Qatar have benefited from giving importance to homegrown talent in the domestic league.
The former Ajax, Barcelona, Rangers, Al Rayyan and Al Shamal midfielder, a Bid Ambassador for Qatar at the 2022 World Cup, was speaking at the Generation Amazing Instagram Live.
“The league has progressed quite a bit from my days there,” said De Boer, in the Star Chat programme.
Generation Amazing is the Qatar 2022 social and legacy programme aimed at positively impacting youth and under-privileged communities using football for development.
So far, the programme has reached 500,000 people in Qatar and globally and is aiming to reach 1 million people by 2022.
“When I was there, six foreign players were allowed in a club team, but now, the number is four, including one from Asia. The benefit was visible at the Asian Cup, which Qatar won last year,” said De Boer, who also spoke about his club and international experiences, and shared advice on developing positive affirmations during adverse times.
Generation Amazing’s Marketing & Communications Director, Moza Al Mohannadi, said: “Ronald de Boer is well respected as a great midfielder of his time, so we were extremely excited to have him join us for this online session. He had some invaluable insight to share with our youth participants, as well as the many people tuning in worldwide.”
Commenting further about this week’s schedule, Generation Amazing Programmes Director, Nasser Al Khori, said: “This week was very interesting for youth and families. In addition to our chat with Ronald de Boer, we were also treated to the first in a new series of ability-friendly live workout sessions held in collaboration with our partners at Qatar Foundation. Families will be able to enjoy these sessions over the coming weeks.”
