Doha – November 28, 2025:

The delegation of Qatar’s senior basketball team will depart this Friday evening, November 28, 2025, to the Lebanese capital Beirut, in preparation for facing the Lebanese national team in the second leg of the first window of the Asian qualifiers for the Qatar 2027 World Cup. The Qatari team is preparing to play the match which will be held next Sunday at the Nehad Nawfal Sports and Theater Complex in Dhok Mikhael.

This comes after the strong performance presented by the Qatari national team against its Lebanese counterpart in the match that took place on Thursday evening, November 27, 2025, at Lusail Multi-Purpose Hall, which ended with Qatar’s national team losing by one point 75-74, amid a large crowd attendance of eight thousand spectators.

The match witnessed great competition where the Lebanese national team led in the first quarter with a score of 21-9, before the Qatari national team regained its level in the second quarter with a score of 17-12, while the third quarter ended in a tie 17-17, and the Qatari national team managed to dominate in the fourth quarter with a score of 31-25, but the result did not go in its favor.

In the same group, the Saudi national team defeated India with a score of 75-51, which increases the importance of Sunday’s match.. especially since the Saudi national team tops the group standings with 2 points tied with the Lebanese national team, while the Qatari national team occupies third place with 1 point, tied with the Indian national team which holds fourth place.

The Qatari national team delegation is headed by Mr. Saadoun Sabah Al-Kawari, General Secretary of the Qatar Basketball Federation and Director of National Teams, and it is scheduled that the Qatari national team will conduct its training immediately upon arrival in Beirut.

The Asian and Oceanian qualifiers witness the participation of 16 national teams, distributed into four groups, where Group A includes the national teams of Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, and Guam, Group B includes Japan, China, South Korea, and Taiwan, Group C includes Iran, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq, while Qatar was placed in Group D alongside Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and India.

The top three teams from each group qualify for the second round, after which the qualified teams will be distributed into two new groups, and three teams from each group will qualify for the World Cup finals, in addition to the best team that finishes fourth from both groups.