From World Cup glory to Olympic dreams: Qatar's bold 2036 hosting bid

At the centre stage of Qatar’s 2036 Olympic ambitions lies more than the potential for a defining moment in international sport. It’s a statement.

A successful hosting bid would see Qatar emerge victorious as the first country in the Middle East and North Africa to host the Games, etching its name into the history books. 

But behind the promise of shimmering stadiums and medal counts, the latest bid from the Gulf state is a test of global perception. Qatar’s Olympic dream is both an invitation to move past tired tropes and a challenge to engage with a region too often stripped of its nuance.

When sport and symbolism intersect, the real focus shifts beyond who hosts and competes. It becomes a question of who holds the pen that writes a nation’s story. 

The politics of bidding 

News of Qatar officially engaging in “ongoing discussions” with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last month was swiftly followed by the establishment of a Bid Committee for the Games. Chaired by Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani and Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, the latest committee marks Qatar’s third, and arguably most formidable, attempt at securing Olympic hosting rights.  

Previously, the Gulf state set its sights on the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2016 Summer Olympics. Both bids fell short amid concerns over scheduling logistics, particularly the challenge of hosting athletes and global spectators in Qatar’s sweltering 40°C summer sun. Qatar’s subsequent proposal to hold the Games in October failed to secure a shortlist spot, as questions of timing and climate lingered. 

Since then, Qatar now confidently has “95% of the required sports infrastructure to successfully host,” according to Sheikh Joaan in a statement. 

But why Qatar, and why now?  

“Qatar is now in a different phase of its national development compared to the times at which it previously made bids. The country now has extensive, expensively constructed infrastructure that it needs to utilise,” Simon Chadwick, professor of AfroEurasian Sport at Emlyon Business School in Shanghai, tells The New Arab.  

The small Gulf state is home to 10 stadiums and various other sporting venues for golf, equestrian, tennis, and, among others, a motor racing circuit. 

In a statement last month, the QOC said that Qatar is dedicated to leveraging sport to promote dialogue and opportunities for young people, as well as remarking that Qatar embraces the “Sports for Peace” motto.  

Despite what the QOC describes as a bid to host that “goes beyond operational considerations,” the challenges ahead remain. According to reports, Gulf neighbour Saudi Arabia is also signalling interest in hosting the Games.  

"Reports suggest Egypt may also bid," Professor Chadwick adds. “Here, the IOC would find itself in an interesting position, as Cairo would take the Olympics to Africa for the first time, whereas Riyadh would be likely to attract lavish funding in a fast-growing market.” 

Sports as statecraft 

While Saudi Arabia readies to host the first 48-team FIFA World Cup in a single nation come 2034, it was Qatar’s precedent-setting 2022 tournament that paved the way for the region’s international football ambitions. 

From the spectacular opening ceremony of the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, where the nation held its breath as Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani gallantly rode on horseback up a steep incline bearing the torch to light the cauldron, to becoming the first nation in the region to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022, and securing the bid to host the 20th FIBA Basketball World Cup — Qatar’s résumé of hosting international sporting events is extensive. 

"Qatar’s steady development over the years has shown time and time again that it is ready for the world stage," says Shaikha Abdulrahman Al Hemaidi, who recently graduated from Qatar University with a Linguistics degree. 

Remembering the success of the Qatar FIFA 2022 World Cup games, which ran during the Gulf state’s cooler months of November and December, Al Hemaidi said she wasn’t surprised by news of the official bid submission. In fact, the Linguistics grad saw the headlines coming. 

FIFA reports that over one million visitors travelled to Qatar for the historic tournament. Fans watched as history was made on the pitch with Morocco becoming the first-ever African or Arab nation to reach the semi-finals. From a logistics standpoint, Professor Chadwick warns that, unlike the World Cup, the Olympics is known to draw in larger professional and spectator crowds.  

"At the 2024 summer Olympics, Paris attracted 11.2 million visitors. There were just over 700 football players in Qatar for the 2022 tournament; typically, a summer Olympics sees almost 12,000 athletes competing across over 400 events. If Qatar secures 2036 hosting rights, then the logistical and security challenges will increase exponentially," he explained.  

Outside of sports arenas, Dr Zarqa Parvez, a post-Doctoral Fellow in International Politics at Georgetown University-Qatar, notes that beyond the race to a successful bid and winning gold medals, hosting an Olympics in Qatar is as much about setting the stage for its own narrative when the world is watching as it is about logistics. She identifies international sporting events as opportunities for understanding differences in socio-political realities and cultural identities across the globe. 

Few moments in recent Olympic history capture this better than four-time Olympic medallist Mutaz Barshim’s iconic "Can we have two golds?" at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. 

Back home, Dr Parvez said that Qatar hosting the World Cup in 2022 further showed the world "how beautiful our region is." She adds: “During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, many Orientalist and Islamophobic myths about this region were dispelled. Qatar handled criticism and hatred with grace, responding with respect and positivity”. 

The Western gaze and Arab(ic) arena 

As Qatar’s Olympic aspirations rise, perhaps so too will international scrutiny.  

International human rights watchdogs have spotlighted the Gulf state's guardianship laws, arguing that such systems hinder women's public participation. Women’s challenges with navigating public participation are not an issue unique to Qatar.  

In June 2024, just weeks before the start of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, a bill was tabled by Laurent Lafon to ban any signs or clothing that clearly show political or religious affiliation in local, regional, and national sports competitions.  

Anna Błuś, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Gender Justice in Europe, decried the French rendition of Laïcite in this context as discrimination "under the guise of implementing a notion of 'secularism'," disproportionately targeting Muslim women. 

“Women [in the Gulf region] are increasingly encouraged to participate in sports, as we see in Qatar and Saudi. Women aren't just playing sports; they're shaping legislation and policies around sports. Meanwhile, in Europe, Muslim women cannot participate in certain sports because of their religious beliefs. This contradiction reveals the hypocrisy in Western critiques of Muslim women's freedoms,” Dr Parvez says.  

For Al Hemaidi, who minored in Spanish while at university, visibility goes beyond representation on the field. It’s also about amplifying the Arabic language. 

During FIFA 2022, Qatar introduced its Hayya platform to streamline travel and entry into the country. For young Qatari natives, campaigns like these that focus on Arabic are crucial to preserving cultural identity, especially for Qatari youth whose identities are shaped by how their region is portrayed in media spaces. 

“The Hayya campaign put an Arabic word into the spotlight, but I wonder how much it resonated since we usually say ‘Yalla’ instead,”  Al Hemaidi says.

“While it introduced the word to global audiences, I wonder if it really reflected us. If we want language visibility, then it should be our dialect that takes the lead.” 

Qatar’s Olympic hosting bid is ultimately a contest of voice. During the bidding process, and as the focus on the Gulf state sharpens, the fiercest competition may not play out on the field, but in how its narrative is shaped. 

Fakhriya M. Suleiman is a Qatar-based writer and voice-over professional. A SOAS, University of London alumna, her work explores religion, culture, and the shifting balance of power and perception across media and society.  

Follow her on Instagram: @FakhriyaSpeaks