The football lecture series ‘A World Cup like no Other’ organized by the German Embassy and the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region in cooperation with 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum and the Years of Culture initiative opened with a talk by Prof. Dr. Daniel Memmert of the German Sport University Cologne on penalty shots.

On the occasion of the first FIFA World Cup in the Arab World, the German Embassy in Doha and the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region are cooperating with 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum to organize a series of talks and panel discussions from October 4 to November 1 2022. Having worked together closely in 2017 during the Qatar-Germany 2017 Year of Culture, Qatar Museums and the German institutions are once again joining forces to stage this lecture series as a legacy project of their joint cultural year.They will present a series of lectures and panel discussions that are touching on various aspects of football. Talking about the cooperation, Dr. Claudius Fischbach, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Qatar, said: “Having hosted a FIFA World Cup in our own country twice, in 1974 and in 2006, we understand how special this moment is for the Qatari nation, even more so as it is the first FIFA World Cup in the Arab World. We are pleased to present this lecture series, thereby adding to the manifold programs that Qatar is planning in this context.”

Speaking of the lectures, Aisha Ghanem Al Attiya, Director of Cultural Diplomacy Department at Qatar Museums, said: “It is quite fulfilling to witness how the passions people share bring them together to create a product like the insightful lecture series. Even more so, the lasting connections made through the past Qatar-Germany 2017 Year of Culture, and the legacy of the Years of Culture initiative, growing into new projects. This is a moment of final reflection before the World Cup, and we are happy to share it with the friends we made through the Years of Culture initiative.”

Fareed Majari, Director of the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region, on the program: “Our programming of the lectures and panel discussion was done in close cooperation with our colleagues at 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum. We wanted to ensure that the suggested topics relate to the programming of the museum while also covering a wide range of topics and shedding light on football through different lenses.”  Prof. Dr. Daniel Memmert, Managing Director of the Institute of Exercise Training and Sport Informatics at the German Sport University Cologne and one of Germany’s leading academics researching the game, opened the lecture series yesterday evening with a lecture on penalty shots. He will give another lecture that focuses on the role of referees (November 1, 2022). His lectures are aimed at both an expert audience as well as the average football fan. Dr. Danyel Reiche, Visiting Associate Professor of Georgetown University in Qatar will give an analysis of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar (October 9, 2022). Jürgen Rank, Senior Design Director Football Apparel at Adidas, invites the audience to view football through a creative lens. He will give an online lecture on football apparel and explain the design process of a football jersey (October 18, 2022).

Fareed Majari continues: “Football has a unifying effect, bringing together countries, cultures and people from very different social and cultural backgrounds and biographies to a far greater extent than any other sport. Football also opens avenues for upward mobility for underprivileged urban youths. We wanted to include these social aspects of football in our programming as well and not shy away from naming some of the challenges that female football players still face today.”

Two panel discussions will invite visitors to learn more about the social aspects of the sport. ‘Women & Football’ will be the topic of the panel on October 11 2022, while the panel on October 25 2022 will explore the subject of ‘Football meets Art’. Our panellists are the former Qatari national player Ibrahim Khalfan, the former national coach of the Qatari women’s national football team Monika Staab, the captain of the Afghan women’s national football team Farkhunda Muhtaj, the German playwright and captain of the authors’ football team Moritz Rinke, and the installation artist Tomislav Topic.

Calendar of Events
All lectures and panel discussions that are not held virtually will take place at 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum. They will be in English with simultaneous translation into Arabic.

October 9, 2022 at 6:30 PM
‘A World Cup like no Other’
Lecture on Qatar and the FIFA World Cup by Dr. Danyel Reiche (Georgetown University) 

October, 11 2022 at 6:30 PM
Panel Discussion ‘Women & Football’ 
Moderated by Dr. Danyel Reiche (Georgetown University)
With Monika Staab (former coach of the Qatari women’s national football team and current coach of the Saudi women’s national football team) & Farkhunda Muhtaj (captain of the Afghan women’s national football team)

October 18, 2022 at 6:30 PM
‘From Paper to the Pitch’
A virtual lecture on the design of football jerseys by Jürgen Rank (Adidas)

October 25, 2022 at 6:30 PM
Panel Discussion ‘Football meets Art’
Moderated by Fareed Majari (Director of the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region in Abu Dhabi)
With Moritz Rinke (German playwright and novelist as well as captain of Germany’s authors’ football team), Tomislav Topic (German installation artist) & Ibrahim Khalfan (Qatari artist and former football player for the Qatari national team)

November 1, 2022 at 6:30 PM
‘Referees – A Love-Hate Relationship’
A virtual lecture by Prof. Dr. Daniel Memmert (University of Cologne)

www.goethe.de/gulf