How did Qatari football find itself in such dire state?

Riyadh: Given the seemingly desperate state of Qatari football at the moment, it is worth remembering one thing — they are still Asian champions.

The fact they were crowned champions of Asia just over four years ago, and yet now are seemingly staring into the abyss, shows how quickly things have unraveled for last year’s World Cup hosts.

As if the embarrassment of their performances on the biggest stage was not bad enough, the sour taste lingered when several players, headlined by former Asian player of the year, Abdelkarim Hassan, were suspended by the Qatar Football Association for issues related to the World Cup camp.

That was followed by Al-Duhail’s 7-0 humiliation at the hands of Al-Hilal in the AFC Champions League semi-final. The exclamation point was put on a miserable few months when the national under-20 side bowed out of the AFC U20 Asian Cup without winning a game, capitulating to Australia 9-1 in their final group game.

How did things get so bad?

Fouad El-Fdil, a former coach and scout at Aspire Academy, told Arab News: “Until the Asian Cup, that we won in 2019, I think we had a beautiful development.

“But, after that, it feels like we didn’t have a new plan for five or 10 years to keep developing and to keep pushing forward.

“Of course, I understand that the budget is under pressure, especially with the World Cup coming, and after the World Cup we all knew that things would go down a little bit. But having a plan is more important than having a big budget. It all starts with a plan.

“And also, you need to refresh your national team. You need new, ambitious, and hungry players to refresh the national team.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t see, and I didn’t feel like there was a clear plan for how to keep