3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum

The 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum opened in March 2022, inaugurated by the Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, a few months before Qatar hosted the FIFA World Cup. It is attached to Khalifa International Stadium in the Al Rayyan area west of the centre, and the building, designed by the Spanish architect Joan Sibina, covers about 19,000 square metres. It is widely described as the first sports museum of its kind in the Middle East.

The visit runs through seven exhibition spaces. After the lobby, a history of world sport reaches from the eighth century BCE to the early twentieth century, followed by a gallery on the Olympic Games that displays every Summer and Winter Olympic torch since 1936. The sports heroes gallery features 90 athletes from around the world, with objects such as a Pelé shirt and one of Michael Schumacher's Ferraris. Later rooms cover the major events Qatar has hosted, starting with the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, and the development of sport in Qatar from traditional games to international competition.

The final space is the most hands-on: an interactive area with 18 stations where you create a personal profile and try sporting challenges for yourself, which makes this one of the best museums in Doha for children and teenagers. A 3-2-1 Esports Lounge opened on the seventh floor in May 2026. Look out too for Coup de tête, the large bronze of Zinedine Zidane's head-butt in the 2006 World Cup final, reinstalled here in June 2022.

The museum opens 9am to 7pm on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday, 9am to 9pm on Thursday and 1.30pm to 7pm on Friday, and it is closed on Tuesday. Book tickets through the museum's website. Allow two to three hours, especially if you have children who will want time in the interactive galleries. Audio tours are offered, and there is a library and a gift shop.

For food, the 3-2-1 Café is on the third floor and the NAUA restaurant is on the eighth floor. The museum is a little out of the centre, so most visitors arrive by taxi or ride-hailing app. Combine it with a walk around the stadium precinct, or pair it with Mathaf and Education City on the same side of the city for a full day of museums.