Gulf Club Championship (GCC)

It depends on which Middle Eastern country you're talking about. I'd say the sides who consistantly get slots, ie Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE view it with passion. Although I remember Al Sadd fans not really giving a f*ck until they reached the round of 16 lol.

You had to bring up those games! good examples. I never saw Qadsia vs Sadd, but obviously read about it, and have seen the brawl. Al Hilal vs Gharafa was an all out war, albeit unfortunate for Al Gharafa. They are good examples of regional rivalries, but that was back then when the teams comprised mostly of Kuwaitis/Qataris/Saudis... now it's mostly foreign born players who couldn't even point out their "own" country on the map.

Tbh, in Arabic media, for Qatar anyways, the GCC gets nearly no coverage. Not until Al Khor played Al Jahra did they get mentioned on Al Kass, and that was because all 4 of the Qatari teams lost their AFC CL fixtures this week. I doubt that many will care even if they win the tournament.

Perhaps for some countries, but it is difficult to see that happening considering the participation of mostly low-ranked teams and the terrible format.

 

Does Sadd SC even have fans?
There is no passion in Qatar, in my opinion. There's hardly a presence of passion when Qatari rivals meet each other in Prince Cups et al, let alone how passionately they view football in the Asian level. No offence or anything, but you shouldn't be offended anyway since you're not Qatari.
Seriously though, I failed to see passion from Qatari football "fans". Stadiums are almost always empty, local derbies and rivalries are only intense when the Emir shows up, etc. I fail to see any passion outside that. Even last season, when Sadd SC won the ACL, there wasn't much passion. Fans did show up -- most of whom were locals living within the vicinity of the stadium and in some way or another tied with the players, staff and board members -- and the atmosphere was as dead as a Test Cricket match LOL.

I've met a few Saudis in Malta -- lovely people -- and they told me they only view domestic games with a passion. It's perfectly understandable and I think you'll find out that is the case in most places. Even in England, while a Newcastle supporter, for example, would be excited to play in Europe and have a shot against the gigantic likes of Barca and Real (not to mention traveling to these places which adds to the excitement), the fact is they find more excitement, more passion and more football "madness" when they play Sunderland, United, Arsenal, etc.

Domestic football brings more passion and excitement because, chances are, you know people who support the opposing teams. It could be a school buddy or business colleague or family member, etc. You just cant find that in Asian football, and quite frankly no Indian sitting in his home in Mumbai, for example, would be so excited for qualifying to the ACL because of his team's potential matchup against Asian "giants"; neither would he care to travel to these games. So really, the passion in the ACL is more or less artificial.

From a GCC point of view, even culturally, we view our local games with great care because we know the opposing teams, and their supporters, and thus we are able to rub it in our opponents faces when we secure victories. That happens in the local level and it happens in the regional level to a strong but lesser extent obviously, albeit still a million times better than the ACL.

There are plenty of more examples. There's Qadsia SC versus Al Ain SC in the 2006 ACL. Arguably the greatest fixture in the entire competition. Even though the players are foreign, the fans certainly aren't. The fans make the passion, not the players. You can have a Kuwaiti club full of Kuwaiti players up against an Uzbek side, but the passion just wouldn't be there. Yet you can have two Kuwaiti clubs, full of foreign players, battling each other in a derby and the buzz and excitement would surpass anything in the ACL.

That's because the Qataris are still without their own glorious history and without passion and certainly without people. Qatar also talk a lot about the ACL because they owe it to the former AFC president, MBH. MBH is the reason why Qataris take the ACL seriously, since they consider the competition their "creation". Qatar isn't a good example anyway. Qatar was never a passionate football country and probably never will be. Bahrain is more passionate than Qatar in sports, and that should tell you something. The Qataris are also politically minded. As much as I love their country in what they've built, they sometimes take decisions based on political matters. So they always try to distance themselves away from anything that Saudis, or even Kuwaitis, care about. It's a bad example.

Look no further than 20 years to see how poor Qatari teams performed in Gulf competitions. They almost always got spanked by their opponents, including by the hands of mediocre Omani sides with a financial budget that is 1/100th of what Qatari clubs have. They rarely did well in the GCC champions league because it's a tournament that the giants of GCC football always took seriously, therefore there was no room for Qatar to maneuver. Now it's obviously different and yet we still don't see them winning things, although that could now change.

Did you see the Emir of Qatar cup final and the UAE President's cup this season by the way? These two games go to show you that people care more about the domestic rivalries and fantastic stories behind each team. The passion seen in those two cup competitions, albeit still weak compared to other GCC countries, is a lot more than anything Qatari fans and UAE fans showed in any ACL match. Now that's a sign of what the GCC champions league could become. If care is brought back to the tournament, its popularity will beat that of any other competition, from a local's point of view.

 

Please don't comment on things you're not knowledgeable about. Last year when Al Sadd won the ACL, I am positive that they celebrated with passion and much more than any other country would except for maybe Saudi Arabia. The corniche (local place) was completely filled with people, including me and a couple of my friends, and people were dancing in the streets, setting off fireworks, etc. while Al Sadd were celebrating in their bus. It was happening all over Qatar. Even in their previous matches, Al Hilal vs Al Sadd, there was passion in the stadium, and I'm presuming you've seen the second leg vs Suwon and the atmosphere the locals made. I'm not Qatari so I'm not offended, but it annoys me when everyone and their mother tries to one-up the country when they don't know anything about it.

It's different in every country. I know for a fact in Qatar that the fans actually care about the amount of Qatari players on a team. Almost all Arabs feel like this.

What do you mean "without their history"? Al Sadd were the first Arab team to win the Asian Club Championship. Al Arabi were also runners-up in 1995. Had you seen how packed the stadiums were back then, you would know that the players and fans had passion. If you're referring to the GCC and the fact that a Qatari club has only won it once, then I highly doubt that that is the reason that they are not reporting it now in 2012, especially when Qatar SC were runners-up recently. It has more to do with the low status of the competition currently.

I do not know about the history of the tournament. But I have reservations about your comments stating that it was taken much more seriously than the Asian Club Championship.

Once again, not as long as we keep sending our lowest ranked teams. Even if care and passion is all brought back to the tournament, people in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE will still care more about the ACL as long as their top teams aren't playing in it.

 

I know a lot about Qatar, trust me on that one. Passion is a relative term, anyway. It means different things to different people, but I don't think you've been to a local match in Kuwait, Bahrain or Saudi Arabia. Because if you had, you will understand the passion that I'm talking about, and you'll understand why many people criticize Qatari football for its lack of atmosphere/passion. Teenagers blasting their air horns in the streets of Doha isn't passion. Qataris are on the streets 24/7 anyway, so it's not surprising that, every once in a while, they decide to cram their roads and add a bit of music to it. So what else is new? They do that a lot of times so it doesn't really make the occasion special. And I really don't know what you're talking about when you mentioned Sadd's games against Hilal and Suwon. Are you referring to the 2010 ACL Hilal game which ended up in favor of the Saudi team? That same game where most of the Sadd supporters were school children from Qatar International School and had their teachers and supervisors present? The one where Hilal fans made 10 times more noise than anything Qataris were capable of making? There is no passion, there never was. Qatar was never the kind of country that makes noise and excitement during games. It's actually pathetic. I even know Qataris who tell me that the clubs usually pay Africans and South Asians money to attend local games, in order to make the stadium look a little bit filled and save themselves from embarrassment in front of the FIFA delegates. It's that bad. Of course there was going to be a slight buzz of excitement when Sadd won the ACL, otherwise the Qataris wont be human. But looking at them from all those years, including this season, it's easy to spot the soullessness present.

So going back to the point, you cant really say Qataris view the ACL with passion. I don't see passion as much as I do see empty seats. Qatar was a bad example anyway. You could have used the Saudi example, which I can concede to. Yes, certain Saudi clubs have fans passionate about the ACL. But when the GCC was at its prime, nobody gave a toss about the ACL.

In that case they should protest how un-Qatari their national team is, which they don't. In fact they're quite happy with the South American and African makeup of their team, which is evident every time one of the Qatari pundits on television speaks about his country's naturalization policy and praises it.

So let me get this straight, Sadd are the first Arab side to win -- what was then -- a mediocre Asian tournament in 1989, so that suddenly makes their history glorious? Back in the 70s and 80s, the mentality was different. GCC clubs cared more about domestic football, GCC tournaments and Pan-Arab tournaments. The attention in Asia was limited only to the Asian Cup, and even that was sometimes surpassed by the Arab Cup. Arab nationalism was huge back then. The Arab countries lived in their own little World, including the GCC, and they viewed Arab-inspired or Arab-led activities as more important. Of course that didn't stop the teams from trying to win Asian competitions, mainly due to prestige and as a bragging right. But if you wanted to know which Arab or GCC side was the strongest back in those days, you had to look at the teams which dominated domestic football and won Pan-Arab/GCC tournaments. The Asian competitions were secondary. Besides the point, you also missed the biggest part of my reply. Qataris tend to distance themselves from the GCC champions league primarily because of how seriously Kuwaiti and Saudi teams used to take the tournament. It's political and every person and his/her dog knows that around here, so it's not even worth arguing about in the first place.

Let's just agree to disagree. I'll always hold the view that the GCC champions league is more important, and it will be even more important when the GCC countries formally become a union. The ACL is only a phase, and it's already a very weak tournament in comparison to other confederations.

 

Sad day. The final will be Muharraq vs Al Wasl.

Al Khor won 2-1, but they lost the tie. They would have 100% won the tie if they hadn't fielded Julio fatfck Cesar and Ibrahim Awal, but its too late now...

I hope Al Wasl lose humiliatingly. They are the dirtiest team I have seen in world football (besides national team of South Korea).

PS. Kutsuit, tell your teams to stop scoring own goals

 

What did I tell ya Elspamo?

Al Arabi were going to find a way to lose the game, even if it meant they had to score an own goal to do so.

Al Arabi are the biggest joke in Kuwait. Anyway, UAE clubs love this competition lately. 3 out of the 4 previous finals have at least one representative of the UAE.

 

Of course UAE love the tournament. They have to have at least ONE tournament that they can actually progress in. We all know how big of a joke their national team is, and they certainly didn't get anywhere in the ACL lately. Although I could see their domination of the tourny coming to an end if KSA start entering their teams again and Qatar enters higher-ranked teams.

 

Yep... Their own league!

By the way, I think their national team has a good future. They're focusing a lot on the youth teams, so surely it will reward them some century along the way... You know, when humanity becomes a unified nation with different space colonies... Right about then.

Kuwait SC should enter this tournament. I don't know why our clueless FA decided to send a team like Al Arabi instead. They're no longer a competitive club.

 

Damn I missed it. Too bad Muharraq lost. Now it's as good as won for Al Wasl...

 

They lost 3-1 at home? It's a big ask for Muharraq to score 3 goals in Dubai. It's finished. Well done to the UAE for being the only country in the GCC that still cares and treats this tournament like the crown jewel that it used to be.

Anyway, congratulations to the best kicker in the team:

 

Hahaha, that never gets old.

 

Any favorites this edition? I see the main contenders as Muharraq, Al Khor and Baniyas. Al Kharaitiyat and Baniyas have an upper hand over their competition because of their big-name professional players. Al Kharaitiyat have Yahia Kebe, Alain Dioko, Andranik Teymourian and Domingos and Baniyas also have some great professionals. Although that doesn't always imply that they'll do well in the competition. (for instance, how Muharraq beat Al Wasl last year)

I will be cheering for Al Khor. They have a lethal duo upfront and their local players are promising.

 

Uhh, Yemen isn't even in the GCC

I think the Omani teams have the capability of upsetting any team in the tournament, as does the Bahraini teams. They have very skilled players on their teams, but they don't have the necessary facilities or funds to develop their teams to their full potential. To my surprise, Wasl showed that us that money can't buy everything when they were upset by Muharraq in the final. But to be fair, as we discussed before, Al Muharraq are the best in their league (iirc). I still stand by my three favorites, I don't think the Saudi teams which were chosen to participate are very strong, but at least they play in a strong league which should count for something.

As before, I agree with your comments on the group format. I wish they would change it, either by making only one team qualify from each group, or by allowing another team to be added for certain countries based on the club performances by individual countries.

 

Yes, you're right. I'm not sure why they didn't invite Yemen or Iraq. I guess they are trying to stick strictly within the bounds of the GCC (which doesn't include Yemen or Iraq) for this tournament. Either that, or neither country cares much about the tournament and didn't attempt to be a part of it.