Sheikh Tamim was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Qatar Armed Forces upon graduation from Sandhurst.[5] He became the heir apparent to the Qatar throne on 5 August 2003, when his elder brother Sheikh Jassim renounced his claim to the title.[4]

[5] Since then he was groomed to take over rule, working in top security and economics posts.[6] On 5 August 2003, he was appointed deputy commander-in-chief of Qatar’s armed forces.[5]

Sheikh Tamim promoted sport as part of Qatar’s bid to raise its international profile.[6] In 2005 he founded Oryx Qatar Sports Investments, which owns Paris Saint-Germain F.C. among other investments. In 2006, he chaired the organizing committee of the 15th Asian Games in Doha. Under his leadership, all member countries attended the event for the first time in its history. That year Egypt‘s Al Ahram voted Tamim “the best sport personality in the Arab world”.[5] Under his guidance, Qatar won the rights to host the 2014 FINA Swimming World Championships and the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Tamim is chairman of the National Olympic Committee.[5][6][7] At the 113th session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in February 2002, he was elected as a member of the IOC.[8] He headed Doha’s bid for the 2020 Olympics.[5] The country will host the football World Cup in 2022. Qatar is expected to spend about $200 billion on infrastructure to prepare for the event.[9]