Culture

Qatar's native culture is similar to that of other Arab countries of the Persian Gulf (see Culture of the Arab States of the Persian Gulf). Arab tribes from Saudi Arabia migrated to Qatar and other places in the Persian Gulf.

The Qatar National Day hosted every 18 December is the day Qataris celebrate their national identity and history. On that day, expressions of affection and gratitude are conveyed to the people of Qatar who cooperated in solidarity and vowed allegiance and obedience to Sheikh Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani as a leader in 1878.

Arts and Museums Main articles: Qatar Museums Authority and Collecting practices of the Al-Thani Family Museum of Islamic Art, Doha.

Several senior members of Qatar's ruling Al Thani family are noted collectors of Islamic and contemporary art (see Collecting practices of the Al-Thani Family).

The Museum of Islamic Art, opened in 2008, has quickly come to be regarded as one of the great museums of the world. This, and several other Qatari museums, fall under the Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) which is led by Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the daughter of the ruling Emir of the State of Qatar, and the prominent collector and art patron Sheikh Hassan bin Mohammed Al-Thani. The QMA also sponsors artistic events abroad, such as major exhibitions by Takahashi Murakami in Versailles (2010) and Damien Hirst in London (2012).

Qatar is the world’s biggest buyer in the art market by value. The Qatari cultural sector is being developed to enable the country to reach world recognition in order to contribute to the development of a country that comes mainly from its resources from the gas industry.

Media The news desk of Al Jazeera, a Qatari news channel.

Qatar's media was classified as "not free" in the 2012 Freedom of the Press report by Freedom House. Criticism of the Emir in the media is illegal: according to article 46 of the press law “The emir of the state of Qatar shall not be criticized and no statement can be attributed to him unless under a written permission from the manager of his office.”

Al Jazeera is a main television network headquartered in Doha, Qatar. Al Jazeera initially launched in 1996 as an Arabic news and current affairs satellite TV channel of the same name, but has since expanded into a network of several specialty TV channels.

Print media is going through expansion, with over three English dailies and Arabic titles. Qatar Today is the only monthly business magazine in the country. It is published by Oryx Advertising, which is the largest magazine publisher in Qatar. The group also publishes several titles such as Qatar Al Youm, the only monthly business magazine in Qatar in Arabic language, Woman Today, the only magazine for working women, and GLAM, the only fashion magazine. In December 2009, Oryx launched T Qatar: The New York Times Style Magazine, which marks the entry of an international magazine into Qatar.

Music Main article: Music of Qatar Sport Main article: Sport in Qatar Khalifa International Stadium, home stadium of the Qatar national football team.

Football (soccer) is popular in the country. The Qatar under-20 national football team finished second in the 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship after a 4–0 defeat to Germany in the final.

The Asian Football Confederation's 2011 AFC Asian Cup finals was held in Qatar in January 2011. It was the fifteenth time the tournament has been held, and the second time it has been hosted by Qatar, the other being the 1988 AFC Asian Cup.

Doha, Qatar, is also home to Qatar Racing Club, a drag racing facility. Sheik Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani is very involved in the sport and owner of Al-Anabi Racing. He recently brought his racing company to the United States as a member of the NHRA with the help of 9 time NHRA champion crew chief Alan Johnson, renaming the American team Awsome Al-Anabi Racing, he also brought Johnson on as CEO of the American team, luring him from rival Don Schumacher Racing. They currently have two teams in Top Fuel: Khalid Al-Balooshi and Shawn Langdon.

Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha, Qatar, hosted the WTA Tour Championships in women's tennis between 2008 and 2010. Doha holds the WTA Premier tournament Qatar Ladies Open annually.

On 2 December 2010, Qatar won their bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, despite never having qualified for the FIFA World Cup Finals before.

Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar won the 2011 Dakar Rally and the Production World Rally Championship in 2006. In addition, he has also won gold medals at the 2002 Asian Games and 2010 Asian Games as part of the Qatari skeet shooting team, as well as a bronze medal in the individual skeet event at the 2010 Games in Guangzhou. In the 2012 Summer Games, he won the bronze medal in clay pigeon shooting.

Since 2002, Qatar has hosted the annual Tour of Qatar, a cycling race in six stages. Every February, riders are racing on the roads across Qatar's flat land for six days. Each stage covers a distance of more than 100 km, though the time trial usually is a shorter distance. Tour of Qatar is organised by the Qatar Cycling Federation for professional riders in the category of Elite Men.

In March 2013, Qatar hosted the first round of the FIM World Motocross Championship, becoming the first Motocross Grand Prix to be held in the Middle East.

In 2022, Qatar will host the World Cup. Qatar are planning on building nine new stadiums and expanding three of them for this event.