Do Egyptian teams participate in the Club World Cup in Qatar?
The announcement of the International Football Association "FIFA", Tuesday, about the date of the Club World Cup in Qatar to be in February 2021, to raise questions about Egypt's position on holding the tournament in Doha, and about the participation of one of its clubs (Al-Ahly or Zamalek) in the tournament or not.
A pure Egyptian confrontation in the African Clubs Championship for the first time on November 27th, between the Al-Ahly team, which overcame the Moroccan Wydad hurdle with a score of 5-1, and Zamalek, who qualified at the expense of Moroccan Raja 3-1; It results in the champion of the African continent participating in the World Cup in Qatar.
And the FIFA Club World Cup 2020, until recently, was threatened with cancellation due to the spread of the Corona pandemic, which is the 17th edition of the international tournament organized by FIFA, where Japan and the UAE have exchanged the cup in recent years.
The Club World Cup is attended by the teams winning the titles of the six continents, as well as the local champion from the host country, while Bayern Munich from the European continent, Auckland City, New Zealand champion of Oceania, and Al-Duhail, the Qatari League champion, have qualified for the tournament so far. The team representing Africa, South America, Asia and CONCACAF.
In June 2019, the federation decided to hold the FIFA Club World Cup in 2019 and 2020 in Qatar as a test of Doha’s readiness to host the World Cup for the World Cup and organize the biggest and most important football events in the world in 2022, while Liverpool won the 2019 edition, after beating Flamengo. "The Brazilian is in the final in Qatar.
The FIFA tournament, not Qatar
On the possibilities of Egypt's participation or not in the tournament on the land of Doha, the former head of the Al-Ahly club planning committee, Captain Taha Ismail, cut short the participation of the Egyptian club that won the African Championship in the FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar.
The historic captain of Al-Ahly club, in his speech to "Arabi 21", referred to Egypt's participation in the African Super Cup in Doha on February 14, 2020, when Zamalek met the Confederation champion Esperance, the Champions League champion, and the Egyptian team won the championship with a score of three against a goal for Tarji at Thani Stadium. Bin Jassim at Al Gharafa Club in Doha.
"Where is the problem?" He asked, the former coach of Al-Ahly and the Egyptian national team, explaining that the countries to boycott Qatar played in Doha, adding: "Didn't Al Hilal Saudi Arabia play the FIFA Club World Cup for the year 2019 in Qatar despite the problems between the two countries."
Sheikh Taha pointed out, "Despite the blockade imposed by the Gulf states on Qatar, all of them (Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Bahrain) participated in the Gulf Cup (24) in Doha in November 2019.
When asked about the extent to which this tournament is considered an opportunity to review relations between Doha and Cairo, with sport being the ambassador of goodwill between the brothers, he said, "The tournament is organized by the International Football Association (FIFA), but on the land of Qatar, and Qatar is not involved in the matter."
FIFA will not allow
Sports critic and analyst Ahmed Saad, asserted that "neither Al-Ahly nor Zamalek can refuse to participate in the FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar, because this is a tournament organized by FIFA, and it is a federation that does not have courtesies in this matter, and if Egypt's clubs are absent, it will impose very harsh penalties against the club and the Egyptian Football Association." This will be considered an intrusion of politics into sport, which he completely rejects. "
The sports journalist, in his speech to "Arabi 21", recalled "the stance of the Zamalek club on playing the African Super Cup with Esperance in Doha, and the uproar led by the club's president, Mortada Mansour, and his announcement that his club would not participate and challenge the African Union (CAF), but in the end he acquiesced and participated."
He pointed out that "the Egyptian Football Association knows very well the strength of the continental federations, and the possible penalties for non-participation for political reasons," adding: "So what about the strength of (FIFA) that is stronger than the African Union and the most influential and who is interested in the success of its international competitions."
Saad pointed out that the only possibility before Al-Ahly or Zamalek is "if an apology is made due to the Corona pandemic; here the matter depends on when an effective vaccine for the virus appears, and therefore then there will be no justification for the Egyptian teams not to participate."
He stressed that "participating in this tournament is a great honor for the clubs and the countries participating in it. The clubs participating in the tournament, especially the African ones, are proud of their presence in the FIFA Club World Cup, and this is another incentive for Egyptian clubs to come to Doha."
The sports critic indicated, "Egypt before that did not take any political decision to prevent its teams from participating in any tournaments in Qatar," noting that "Egyptian players participated in the World Athletics Championships in Doha 2019, during the political crisis," pointing out that Egypt will also start soon. World Cup qualifiers, which are held in Qatar 2022.
And that "the tournaments of international federations it is difficult to refrain from participating in them, but some bids may occur from some personalities, especially if the Zamalek team is the participant in the tournament, because Mortada Mansour will try to exploit this position and provide a sincere offer for the regime in Egypt."
Sport not politics
In a political vision, the director of the "Eastern Mediterranean Forum for Political and Strategic Studies", Mohamed Hamed, believes that "there are no obstacles and Egypt will participate in the tournament in Qatar and there is no problem with that."
In his speech to "Arabi 21", he confirmed that the Zamalek team played in Doha with Tunisia's Esperance, the African Super, and it is natural for the Egyptian team to participate in the African Championship, as it is a purely sporting matter that has nothing to do with politics.