DOHA: Sixteen boys from eight Arab countries gathered at Aspire Academy to take part in a football try-out with the chance to be selected for a full-time sports scholarship for the 2015-16 season. The Aspire Academy Sports Scholarship program is the first time ever that the Academy has opened its doors to talents from all Arab countries. Since December 2014, boys born in the years 1999 to 2003 and holding citizenship of an Arab country outside of Qatar had the chance to register online and submit videos to get a chance to attend the first stage of the try-outs on February 28. Thousands of young players registered and, after the videos were reviewed by Aspire Academy’s football scouting department, 16 boys from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Tunisia and Yemen were invited with their parents to come to Aspire Academy. Their program on that special day was quite intense. Besides different football tests they were taken on a tour through the Academy, heard about the philosophy of Aspire in a presentation in the auditorium and at the closing ceremony each one of them received a participation certificate from Aspire Academy Football Director Roberto Olabe, who was pleased with the day’s outcome. “The boys were all really motivated and showed a lot of effort on the day. Now it’s up to our team to carefully review that material and to see who is good enough to be selected for the next stage. “That would include an invitation to join one of the Academy’s teams for a week in April to see if there’s the potential to become part of the Academy’s football program and become a full-time student in 2015-16,” said Roberto Olabe. “And maybe we are able to help them to fulfill their dream to break into professional football and one day play for their countries’ national team.”