Ahly Fans Project ‘Home’ Advantage at Qatar Club World Cup

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Al Ahly Football Club

Doha, Feb 4 (AFP/APP): Despite playing Qatar’s Duhail a stone’s throw from their own ground, Egyptian giants Al-Ahly clearly felt they had the home advantage at the first day of the Club World Cup.

Doha is home to tens of thousands of Egyptian expats, working in every corner of the Qatari economy, and turned out in numbers to support the visitors despite strict virus controls. The earlier fixture between Mexico’s Tigres and South Korea’s Ulsan, which Tigres won 2-1, played out in front of a mostly empty stadium as fans from overseas were banned from travelling.

Neither country has a significant diaspora in Doha, with Mexican expats estimating that just three of their number cheer for Tigres. The African champions by contrast have a bedrock of support among the estimated 300,000 Egyptians in the Gulf gas emirate, easily eclipsing Duhail’s home support. Doha’s Education City was disproportionately speckled with Ahly’s home strip, a signature red jersey emblazoned with an eagle. Their vocal but masked support brandished Egyptian flags and Ahly scarves as they were spurred on by drummers dotted among them.

“Had it not been for the coronavirus, the stadiums would not have been sufficient for Al-Ahly fans, as their numbers are very large here,” said Egpytian expat Muhammad Abdullah Abbas, 39, ahead of the match at Doha’s 40,000-capacity Education City stadium.

As many as 300,000 Egyptians call Qatar home, according to official statistics. Qataris number just 333,000. Thursday’s fixture was easily the liveliest game of football played in Doha since Qatar imposed stringent coronavirus measures on all public soccer matches.

The Egyptian diaspora in Qatar has faced challenges in recent years after Cairo, along with a Saudi-led coalition, broke off relations with Doha complicating travel, remittances and consular matters.

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