How many native players form part of Qatar's AFC Asian Cup 2023 squad?

Do Qatar really have no native players? Let’s take a deeper look may be?

Qatar have had a perfect start to the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, having won all three of their group stages games and not having conceded a single goal. The hosts are making full use of their home advantage and have a strong chance to retain their AFC Asian Cup championship this time around.

Interestingly, India head coach Igor Stimac recently made a divisive comment about the Qatar national team. The Croatian boss claimed that the Qatar squad for the AFC Asian Cup did not have a single native Qatari player, instead are filled with players who had immigrated to the country or born to parents who are immigrants.

Now, the Maroons definitely have a number of immigrant players in their team and some of their key players are those who are not natives of the country. For example, striker Almoez Ali was born in Sudan and star forward Akram Afif’s parents are from Somalia and Yemen. Defenders Ro-Ro (Pedro Miguel) and Boualem Khoukhi were born in Portugal and Algeria, respectively.

With that being said, it’s not like the Qatar squad does not have a single native player. Captain Hassan Al-Haydos is a native who was born in Doha, Qatar and a lot of other of the Qatari national team players are all natives of the country. In fact, 16 of the 26 players from Qatar’s AFC Asian Cup 2023 squad were born in the country and are rightful citizens of Qatar.

However, seven of the 11 players that started for Qatar in their AFC Asian Cup opener against Lebanon and most of the stronger players for their ‘best XI’ are either born in other countries or have lineage to different nations through their parents.

It’s no secret that Qatar have needed some help from players of different cultures to amplify their football development and make themselves one of the best teams in Asia. Perhaps that can be a signal for a country like India to start encouraging more players of other nations (PIOs) to play for the Indian national team and help the Blue Tigers compete at a higher level.

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