Beach Volleyball: Cherif Younousse & Ahmed Tijan, Qatar's home heroes challenging the big guns at the Beach Pro Tour Finals

Nothing quite matches playing in front of a home crowd, the perfect way for Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan to conclude their 2024 season.

Younousse and Tijan go into the 2024 Beach Pro Tour Finals in the Gulf state's capital of Doha as the top seeds, where they could write further history for Qatari beach volleyball.

Born 24 days apart and both emigrating from West Africa - Cherif from Senegal and Tijan from The Gambia - the pair have always been aligned and are finding their rhythm when it matters most on the court.

Since the season finale tournament was introduced in 2015, only one team has won on home sand: Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst of Germany in 2017.

But the Qatari pair are in strong contention to be the first male players to achieve the feat – after all, who can write them off?

• 2024 Beach Pro Tour Finals preview
• Cherif & Ahmed: How we trusted the process to put Qatar on the beach volleyball map

Cherif and Ahmed, already Qatar’s history makers

Three years ago at Tokyo 2020 in 2021, Cherif and Ahmed won Qatar’s first ever Olympic beach volleyball medal when they secured bronze.

They almost made it consecutive bronze medals at Paris 2024, where they enjoyed a superb run under the Eiffel Tower, finishing the tournament in fourth.

Undoubtedly the highlight of their journey to the medal matches was a thrilling 2-1 victory against eventual gold medallists David Ahman and Johnathan Hellvig of Sweden.

It was one of the shocks of the tournament, a result which proved then and now that the Qataris can compete with the best of the bunch.

Cherif and Ahmed breezed through the pool phase and into the semi-finals, where this time the Swedes were too powerful and got revenge in Paris.

Qatar’s heroes came close but were still lauded for their performance; the Qatar Olympic Committee awarded them the accolade of Team of the Season at the 2024 Sports Excellence Awards.

In 2021, after their Tokyo success, they spoke of having put Qatar on the beach volleyball map. The following year, the pair won the Elite16 tournament in Rosarito, Mexico, though they will insist there is plenty more to come.

Cherif and Ahmed aim to sign off in fairytale fashion

Cherif and Ahmed followed up their Paris 2024 campaign with another Elite16 medal, taking silver at Joao Pessoa in a nail-biting three-set final against Anders Mol & Christian Sorum of Norway.

This proved to be the second time that the Norwegians would deny them of greater glory, having taken Olympic bronze two months prior.

Nonetheless, going into the Finals in Doha ranked ninth in the world, Cherif and Ahmed will be optimistic, having played some fantastic beach volleyball against the top teams and even prevailed on occasion.

They will have the added advantage of playing at home, surely finding motivation from the Qatari fans and enjoying the home comforts that could give them an edge.

It has been a year to remember, albeit just short of reaching the top step of the podium. Yet Cherif and Ahmed know that there is no place like home, with the prospect of lifting the season finale trophy at the end of the week in touching distance.

Cherif and Ahmed begin their Beach Pro Tour Finals on Wednesday (4 December) with an enticing encounter against reigning world champions Ondrej Perusic & David Schweiner of Czechia.