Doha is willing to host the next Asian Games in 2031 if the Olympic Council of Asia -OCA- completes its proposed calendar change. Ahmad Abdulla Al-Buenain, chief executive of the organising committee, made its position public on Thursday: “For us, we are open.” Doha’s priority, he explained, is to have its venues and operational plans ready, whatever year is ultimately agreed. His comments do not establish a final date, but they clarify the host’s position on a move the OCA set in motion months ago.
The aim is to hold each Asian Games a year before the Olympic Games and explore whether some events could offer qualification places. Under that timetable, Doha would move from 2030 to 2031, ahead of Brisbane 2032. Giving results Olympic qualifying status would require agreement on sport-specific systems with international federations and the International Olympic Committee -IOC-. A 2031 edition would bring the two calendars closer together; the date change alone would not make every Asian Games event an Olympic qualifier.
A decision in February, a working group in April
The proposal took a formal step forward on February 15, at an OCA Executive Board meeting in Kuwait. The Board unanimously approved moving the Asian Games cycle to the year before the Olympics. Its written decisions state that the edition awarded to Doha for 2030 would shift to 2031, and the Games awarded to Riyadh for 2034 would move to 2035. OCA management was also instructed to coordinate with the Olympic committees of Qatar and Saudi Arabia and with Asian sports federations to put the change into effect.
Two months later, on April 21, the Executive Board took a further step at its meeting in Sanya: it established a working group to study the feasibility of the new cycle. Its remit includes consulting international federations on the possibility of using the Asian Games for Olympic qualification, examining the IOC’s initiative in this area and assessing the implications for the OCA and its competitions. February set the direction the organisation wanted to take; the work commissioned in April concerns how it could be implemented.
No new date announced in Nagoya
The Executive Board’s most recent meeting before Doha’s comments took place on September 19 in Nagoya, as the current Asian Games began. The statement issued afterwards covered preparations for future competitions in Riyadh, Cebu and Almaty, among other matters, but announced no new decision on moving Doha to 2031. It also gave no update on the working group’s assessment of how the Games might fit into Olympic qualification.
Al-Buenain has now said his committee is working closely with the OCA and the IOC, and noted that a change of this kind involves many stakeholders. IOC President Kirsty Coventry had already expressed support for the idea during her visit to Aichi-Nagoya in September. Speaking to ‘Xinhua’ at the time, she welcomed the proposal to stage continental Games a year before the Olympics so they could contribute to qualification. Her remarks supported the objective, while the organisations involved still have to settle the practical arrangements.
Existing venues and Doha’s plans
The potential postponement comes as Doha sets out how it intends to host the delegations. Al-Buenain described a “compact” Games built around clusters of existing venues, an approach included in the city’s original bid. Qatar has used parts of its sports infrastructure for previous major events, including the 2006 Asian Games and the 2022 football World Cup. With Aichi-Nagoya experiencing accommodation and transport problems for approximately 17,000 athletes and officials, Al-Buenain said Doha did not intend to exclude sports or reduce athlete participation for operational reasons. He added that the programme would need to work for all the organisations involved.
The details still to be settled include how the new cycle would be introduced and which sports, if any, could use the 2031 Games as part of qualification for Brisbane 2032. Al-Buenain placed those decisions within discussions involving the OCA, the IOC, national Olympic committees and sports federations. For now, the OCA’s public calendar still lists the next edition under its original name: Doha 2030.
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