DOHA (Qatar): Qatar’s Aspetar, Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital continues to support Asian football by providing outstanding medical support at the ongoing AFC Champions League.
Aspetar in its role as the medical services provider to the AFC champions league, is also dedicating highly qualified doctors to support several Asian clubs that are participating in the tournament.
Meanwhile, Aspetar have been requested to provide five clubs participating in the tournament with club doctors to cover the absence of their medical team during the tournament. These teams were unable to bring their own doctors to Qatar and addressed the AFC and QFA for medical coverage.
Five Doctors from Aspetar have been assigned to assist these teams throughout the tournament. (Sydney FC – Dr Antonio Tramullas, Perth Glory FC – Dr Faical Meddeb, Melbourne Victory FC – Dr Sami Ben Ayad, Suwon Samsung FC –Dr Zaher Bensoltane and Chiang Rai United FC – Dr Nebojsa Kolarov).
Commenting on Aspetar, Sydney FC Head Coach Steve Corica said: “They’ve been sensational. They’re a FIFA accredited medical centre and they helped us out with Dr. Toni. He has been excellent and has fitted in seamlessly with the way we work and how the team needed him.
Luke Brattan, Sydney FC Sydney FC Midfielder had to go and get a scan at Aspetar and he said, “it was an amazing facility where they looked after me extremely well.”
In Addition to the club doctors, Aspetar experts, namely, Dr Khalid l Khelaifi, Omar Al Sayrafi, Celeste Geertsema are assigned to be venue medical officers while Dr Liesel Geertsema has been assigned as AFC medical delegate.
To ensure the safety of everyone involved in the AFC Champions League, players and officials had to undergo COVID-19 testing before their arrival in Qatar while subsequent tests were conducted every three to six days.
All players and officials including participating Aspetar experts have been put under a bio-secure bubble which has limited their movement only to the hotel, stadium and training sites.
With Qatar Football Federation willing to be the host for the tournament, the rest of the 2020 AFC Eastern Zone Champions League is taking place in Doha from 18 November to 13 December, with all the medical support provided by Aspetar’s medical team with a strict COVID 19 protocol.
