DOHA: The Qatar Football Association (QFA) will participate in the first West Asian e-soccer tournament (April 2-4). Teams of Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – who are members of the International Federation of Electronic Games – will take part in the event. Youssef Darwish, Rashid Ahmed, Youssef Hani and Jasim Rashid will represent Qatar. The West Asian event is a preparatory tournament for member associations and players before they can participate in the Asian Nations Championship to be organized by FIFA later this year. All e-matches are scheduled to be broadcast live on the YouTube channel of the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) and on various other social media accounts. Qatar’s Youssef Darwish is considered the second best Playstation player in Qatar and among the top 50 players from West Asia (according to the FIFA rankings). He has competed in more than 30 local, regional and international competitions including the quarter-finals of the West Zone Regional Qualifiers. Rashid Ahmed is the fourth best PlayStation player in Qatar and among the top 100 players from West Asia. He has competed in more than 20 local, regional and international competitions. Jassim Rashid is the best Xbox player in Qatar and among the top 200 Xbox players in the world, according to the FIFA classification. He has competed in more than 20 local, regional and international competitions. Youssef Hani is the fifth best Playstation player in Qatar in the top 150 players from West Asia (FIFA ranking). He has competed in more than 10 local, regional and international competitions, reaching the semi-finals of the FIFA 20 World Cup Middle East Qualifiers.   Ali Salat, Head of Communications at Qatar Football Association, said on Thursday: “The QFA thanks the West Asian Football Federation for organizing the first electronic football tournament. This event has received great interest from fans around the region.” He added: “There is tremendous demand for this kind of event and the youth in Qatar are active participants in e-gaming.  QFA intends to organize many tournaments, regional or at the Arab level”. He added: "This tournament comes as a great opportunity to emphasize the importance of linking football in a way that suits the needs and preferences of our youth and to promote public participation in the most popular game in the world".