The official slogan of Qatar’s successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup was “Expect Amazing”. Perhaps wisely, the FAI has adopted a more low-key approach to marketing Thursday’s friendly. The countries’ only previous meetings both occurred in 2021, when Qatar were included as a guest team in Ireland’s 2022 World Cup qualifying group to gain European match experience before hosting the tournament. Qatar played their “home” games in Debrecen in Hungary, where in March 2021 they contested a drab 1-1 draw with Ireland. The return fixture in Dublin that October proved a more colourful affair owing to the striking blue kit worn by Ireland, who celebrated the FAI’s centenary by wearing the first strip used after its establishment in 1921. Suitably inspired, the Boys in Blue fashioned a 4-0 victory over the Maroons, with Ireland’s number seven, Callum Robinson, hitting a hat-trick that, when added add to his two goals days earlier in a World Cup qualifier in Azerbaijan, briefly established him as the planet’s most prolific “CR7″. Qatar’s endless schedule of World Cup warm-up matches saw them competing in Asia, Europe and North America and included a 1-0 defeat to Linfield in a Marbella friendly in June 2022. The theory that practice makes perfect was stress-tested to within an inch of its life when the tournament finally began in November 2022. Qatar became the first country since Italy in 1934 to host the World Cup finals having never previously competed in them. After being awarded hosting rights in December 2010, Qatar had to wait 4,371 days for the tournament to begin but just five days later they became the first team to be eliminated from it, and went on to become the first host nation to lose all three of their group matches. Qatar can at least say they competed at the World Cup, which is more than can be claimed by their manager Julen Lopetegui, who travelled to USA 94 as Spain’s third-choice goalkeeper but didn’t get a minute of action. But Lopetegui’s World Cup nightmare only really began when he graduated from sitting on the Spain bench as an unused substitute to sitting on it as manager. Lopetegui had already travelled to the 2018 World Cup with his Spanish side when it was unexpectedly revealed that he would take charge of Real Madrid after the tournament. An enraged Spanish FA immediately sacked the manager just two days before their World Cup opener against Portugal. Lopetegui left his post with his side unbeaten during his 20 games in charge. Julen Lopetegui, now Qatar manager, during his spell in charge of Wolves. Photograph: Nick Elliott/Inpho Leaving his job just as major competitions were about to begin was a recurring feature of Lopetegui’s managerial career before his appointment as Qatar manager in May 2025. He last visited the Aviva Stadium in 2023, when a late Matheus Cunha penalty awarded for a foul on Matt Doherty saw his Wolves side salvage a 1-1 draw in a preseason friendly against Celtic. A week later Lopetegui unexpectedly resigned as Wolves manager, just days before their opening-day Premier League fixture away to Manchester United. Qatar return to Dublin in upbeat mood having qualified for the World Cup on merit this time. Their squad is made up almost entirely of home-based players, who compete in the optimistically named “Qatar Stars League”. Their best player remains twice Asian Player of the Year Akram Afif. A key member of the Qatar side that won the Asian Cup in 2019, Afif was again the hero when Qatar successfully defended their title as hosts in 2023 by scoring a hat-trick of penalties in their 3-1 victory over Jordan in the final. Afif is one of the few Qataris to have played in Europe, briefly featuring in La Liga for Sporting Gijón in 2016. The majority of the Qatar squad were developed at the Aspire Academy in Doha, which opened in 2004 at an estimated cost of almost $1.5 billion (about €1.3 billion), an extraordinary investment even for a state that is, per capita, probably the richest in the world. The most successful Aspire graduate is striker Almoez Ali, whose 60 international goals makes him Qatar’s all-time leading scorer. Although Ireland and Qatar rarely play at senior level, there is an emerging trend for somewhat random encounters in age-group football. In June 2025 the Ireland under-21 team drew 0-0 with the Qatar under-23 side in a Zagreb stadium that remained almost empty despite free admission. The two countries will hope to overcome such apathy when they return to Croatia for a repeat fixture next month. The only previous visit of Qatar to the Aviva in 2021 saw the stadium packed to its Covid-restricted capacity of 25,000. Five years later, if their return requires the FAI to dust down their “Sold Out” signs once again, then Qatar really will have fulfilled their promise to amaze.