ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a national women’s team that deviates from the failure of the country in international women’s sports competitions: The Qatari national women’s rugby union team, which won the 2018 and 2019 West Asian Rugby Championships. This chapter elaborates on the evolution of women’s rugby in Qatar. It further discusses the causes of its successes that differ from the country’s performance in other team sports such as women’s basketball and football. To this extent, this chapter argues that women’s sports in Qatar face significant cultural obstacles. Only the large number of foreigners in Qatar and the lenient eligibility rules in World Rugby – which allow non-citizens to represent a country based on proof of residence – made the formation of a Qatari national women’s rugby union team possible.
