"Stupidity and scandals": a Saudi crisis casts doubt on the Gulf Cup 27 title
Angry reactions
A major crisis has erupted in Gulf football over the past few hours, hitting Saudi football hardest of all, and the current edition of the Gulf Club Champions League sits at the centre of it.
The Arabian Gulf Cup Football Federation ruled yesterday, Wednesday, that Saudi club Al-Ettifaq had withdrawn from their match against Iraq's Erbil in the second round of the group stage. They handed them a 3-0 defeat.
Al-Ettifaq never showed up at the venue in Iraq. The Gulf Federation had refused to postpone the game despite the Saudi club saying they could not travel because of the current circumstances.
Saudi journalist Badr Al-Saqri was furious. He tore into the Arabian Gulf Cup Football Federation, branding its stance in the crisis irresponsible and unjustified, and insisting it had gone beyond stupidity.
Speaking on the programme "Nadeena" on the "MBC 1" channel, Al-Saqri said: "The stance issued by the Gulf Football Federation is utterly irresponsible. Some federations are brain dead and there is no hope of their recovery."
He added: "This federation takes me thirty years back. I do not want to say it is a backward federation, but it does not recover nor does it become outdated with the passage of time, and this is a continuation of a failure that is deeply rooted and rife in the arteries and veins of the Gulf Football Federation."
His attack did not stop there. "Even in the Arabian Gulf Cup tournament that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia organised recently, there were scandals that were passed over in silence, such as the crises over ticket prices, broadcasting channels and the strange regulations," he continued.
The Saudi journalist then dismissed the Gulf Club Champions League as worthless, arguing it adds and takes away nothing, and called on Saudi clubs to steer clear of it in the years ahead.
"The Gulf tournament, for me, does not differ much from a friendship tournament or the friendly Tabuk tournament," he explained. "It is a tournament not recognised by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), so it has no value."
Saudi media figure Abdulrahman Al-Humaidi hit back at those remarks: "The Saudi national team won the Gulf tournament for national teams, so should we not celebrate it, or should we not win it?"
Al-Saqri responded: "As long as we take part in it, we must win it," adding: "I am not against the tournament, but it lost its shine many years ago."
Back came Al-Humaidi: "The lack of recognition of the Gulf tournament does not diminish its importance, at the level of Gulf and Arab encounters, as well as at the level of the experience the players gain."
He concluded: "Regardless of the recognition of the Gulf tournament by the International Federation of Association Football, at the technical level its matches are important."
Saudi Arabia were crowned champions of the Arabian Gulf Cup in its twenty-seventh edition, "Gulf 27", on 6 October this month, beating the United Arab Emirates 2-0 in the final.
