Wael Abdulkader Al-Qadi (born 25 November 1969 in Jordan) is a Jordanian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

executive, best known as the current club president of English club

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

and a member of the Al-Qadi family.

Biography

Early life and education

A member of the Al-Qadi family, who founded the

Arab Jordan Investment Bank The Arab Jordan Investment Bank (AJIB) is a Jordanian bank established in Amman in 1978. It serves in Jordan, Qatar and Cyprus. It opened its branch in Limassol, Cyprus, in 1989, and in 2006 its Qatari branch was established. See also * ...

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, Wael was educated at

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. While at school in the UK capital in the early 1980s, he began regularly attending Chelsea matches. He earned a degree in Computer Science with Business Administration at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

, graduating in 1991.

Involvement in football

Al-Qadi became vice-chairman of the Asian Football Development Project in 2011, an executive board member of the Jordan Football Association in 2014, an executive board member of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Jordan 2016, and was a member of the campaign team behind

Prince Ali bin Hussein Prince Ali bin Al Hussein (; born 23 December 1975) is the third son of King Hussein of Jordan, and the second child of the king by his third wife, Queen Alia. He is also the half brother of Abdullah II of Jordan, King Abdullah II. He is a memb ...

's campaign for the presidency of

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

at the FIFA Extraordinary Congress in February 2016.

Bristol Rovers

He and his family purchased

in February 2016. The club were promoted for a second consecutive season in May 2016 with a last minute winner on the final day of the season. In 2017, Dwane Sports group announced the acquisition of a 28-acre site in Almondsbury called The Colony which would become the new training ground for the club. The site remained undeveloped until June 2020 when work began with the aim for the club to move in for the start of the 2020–21 season. In June 2020, following the death of his father Abdulkadir, Wael reached an agreement with the other members of his family to purchase their shares and gain full control of the club, ten percent remaining with his brother Samer. In addition to this, Wael capitalised the debt owed to Dwane Sports by the football club totalling £18.4 million and £16.4 million of debt owed to the club. In December 2021, a man was banned from matches for sixteen weeks after racially abusing al-Qadi from an anonymous Twitter account following a 1–1 draw with Barrow. The 2021–22 season saw a second promotion since al-Qadi's involvement with the club, a remarkable 7–0 victory over

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

on the final day of the season seeing Rovers move into the final automatic promotion spot ahead of

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

on goals scored, immediately bouncing back from relegation the previous season. On 3 August 2023, Hussain AlSaeed purchased a controlling 55% share in Dwane Sports, becoming co-owner of Bristol Rovers and joining the club as chairman. The change in ownership structure saw al-Qadi remain on as club president and all debt owed to Dwane Sports being capitalised. On 22 November 2024, the club announced that an agreement had been reached for Hussain AlSaeed to acquire all 45% of shares owned by both Wael and his brother Samer. The acquisition would be completed over an eighteen-month period with al-Qadi remaining as club president over the time period.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Qadi, Wael 1969 births Living people Jordanian people in sports People educated at Westminster School, London Boston University alumni Bristol Rovers F.C. chairmen and investors