Spanish club taken over by Qatar's Elite Sports Academy

Leon, December 7, 2015: The Spanish football club Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa, currently playing in the country’s second division, has been taken over by Aspire Academy and thereby becomes the latest professional football club to be backed by Qatar's national sports academy.
 
"We have been looking into an opportunity to enter Spanish football for some time. The right venture presented itself in Cultural where the vision, the values, the infrastructure and the public support of, and around, the club aligned well with our ambitions towards professional football”, commented Aspire Academy Director General Ivan Bravo

Cultural is another club in Europe that is going to provide an opportunity for the Academy's players to gain professional experience playing abroad and exposure to European standards of football. 

A select few players from the Qatar Olympic national team already play professionally in Spain, Austria and also in Belgium, where Aspire owns and manages KAS Eupen which plays in the country's second division.

All these steps were taken to guarantee Qatar the best chance to have a competitive national team at the home World Cup in 2022.