From his smartphone, Hussein Hammoud played a video showing a stadium full of hundreds of enthusiastic football supporters wearing the maroon Qatar jersey, jumping up and down while chanting in unison.
The supporters are rigorously following the instructions of their coach, who is energetically waving his arms to channel the crowd's excitement, like a conductor would lead an orchestra.
The scene, which took place in the host country a couple of weeks before the World Cup, was one of the many rehearsals of the Qatari national team's Arab Fans' League.
Qatar's initiative aimed to gather and train football fans from around the Middle East and North Africa to support their national team.
Mr Hammoud, 29, a Lebanese football supporter, was proud to be one of the Arab Fans' League’s coaches.
“The Fans' League was a very bonding experience between Arabs and I was really proud to be part of it. It was all the more meaningful because it is the first World cup taking place in an Arab country”, he said, sat in a cafe in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, where he returned to a couple of days ago.
He said the league gathered Arabs from Qatar, Lebanon, Algeria, Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan and Syria.
“I had never met so many people from so many different Arab countries,” he said. “We could not even understand each other at the beginning because our dialects are different. But these weeks of training created a sentiment of unity."
This was far from being his first time leading a crowd of football supporters.
Mr Hammoud is a well-known figure on the Lebanese football scene. He is a fan leader for Lebanon’s national football team and for the Nejmeh Sporting Club, whose crest he has tattooed on his chest.
Also a Brazil supporter, like many Lebanese, Mr Hammoud does not normally follow the Qatar team, who have never qualified for the competition before hosting. But this World Cup, marked by Morocco's historic performance, has ignited pan-Arab unity.
“It was natural for me to cheer for Qatar, the same way I cheered for Morocco. As an Arab, I support Arab teams over any other," he said.
Casting and training football fans
A couple of months before the competition, Qatar organised castings across the region to choose the best football fans. “After the casting in Beirut, they selected around 150 Lebanese from all ages and sects”, out of a total of approximately 2,000 Arab fans in the league, he said.
Mr Hammoud landed in Qatar a couple of months before the World Cup, while other Lebanese fans came in the following weeks, but “most of the foreigners were Arab expats already living in Qatar, so they were already on-site”, he said.
The league rehearsed once or twice a week in different stadiums across the country. The most experienced were appointed as coaches to conduct the crowd and put on the best performance for the Qatari team.
The Arab world has a culture of passionate football fans, with countries such as Egypt being well known for their extreme supporters — the ultras — who have assumed important political roles in the country.
“It was a co-operation from all Arab countries to exchange our respective football experiences,” Mr Hammoud said.
The fans used chants specially created for the World Cup. “Some were inspired by traditional Qatari songs. We also had songs based on generic football tunes tailored to the Qatari accent — which I ended up speaking perfectly,” he said.
Some media reported that the recruited fans were offered a full package including tickets and hotels in exchange for their support.
For Mr Hammoud, it was first and foremost a chance given to Arabs to attend a historic event, he said.
The Arab Fans’ League performed their carefully choreographed support for only three matches as Qatar were quickly knocked out of the competition, losing to Ecuador, Senegal and the Netherlands and becoming the first host nation to lose all its group stage matches.
“It does not matter that we lost, the ambience was incredible, I am really proud of what we achieved, and I would do it all over again," Mr Hammoud said.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
In numbers
- Number of children under five will fall from 681 million in 2017 to 401m in 2100
- Over-80s will rise from 141m in 2017 to 866m in 2100
- Nigeria will become the world’s second most populous country with 791m by 2100, behind India
- China will fall dramatically from a peak of 2.4 billion in 2024 to 732 million by 2100
- an average of 2.1 children per woman is required to sustain population growth
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Black Panther
Dir: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o
Five stars
UAE%20medallists%20at%20Asian%20Games%202023
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Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
RESULT
Norway 1 Spain 1
Norway: King (90 4')
Spain: Niguez (47')
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
EXPATS
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Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.6-litre turbo
Transmission: six-speed automatic
Power: 165hp
Torque: 240Nm
Price: From Dh89,000 (Enjoy), Dh99,900 (Innovation)
On sale: Now
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UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
WITHIN%20SAND
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The biog
Hometown: Cairo
Age: 37
Favourite TV series: The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror
Favourite anime series: Death Note, One Piece and Hellsing
Favourite book: Designing Brand Identity, Fifth Edition
