There used to be a time, not so long ago, when few Emirati clubs fancied a trip to Iran as it usually meant an enervating experience.
Al Ahli, however, seem to be relishing it of late. Last year, they managed to return home with a 2-1 win from Sepahan, which was their only win in six group matches of the 2014 Asian Champions League.
This year, they suffered a 1-0 defeat at Tractor Sazi during their group campaign of the continental championships. Ahli were a team in transition back then, though, travelling to Iran with Ahmed Khalil as their lone striker.
On Wednesday night, their ranks also included Rodrigo Lima — a highly-regarded striker who has won back-to-back Portuguese league titles with Benfica during the past two seasons. The top scorer in the Portuguese top division in 2011/12, he also owns three Europa League runners-up medals — two with Benfica and one with Braga.
Lima comes to the UAE with plenty of pedigree, but it seems the Naft Tehran defenders were totally unaware of his abilities. They left him completely unmarked to score the only goal of the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final at the Azadi Stadium last night. Left unattended, Lima sneaked in to meet a curled Everton Ribeiro corner in the 62nd minute when a deflection looked like it would take the ball away from him.
The 32-year-old Brazilian, however, dived to his left and made sure he connected.
A nation, or perhaps two, must have held their breath for those milliseconds as the ball flew through the air towards the goal. And then, the stadium was stunned into deathly silence, while the virtual world of UAE football was brought to life with congratulatory messages on Twitter.
There were a few morose tweets from Iranians as well, stating how Naft had lost to Ahli as “expected”. Nobody would have dared to use such words until a few years ago, but these are different times.
With its “golden generation” flying the flag at the international level, Emirati football is on the upswing. The Iranians, on the other hand, seem headed in the other direction.
Naft Tehran seem to be headed that way, at least. Having finished third in the Iranian Pro League in the past two seasons, they are in the midst of a terrible start. They are 13th in the table and still searching for their first win after four rounds of play.
Ahli, on the other hand, started their Arabian Gulf League campaign with an 8-1 win over Fujairah, and the effects of that win were visible at the Azadi Stadium yesterday. The visitors never really showed any nerves.
They could have shown better finishing, though. Ismail Al Hammadi, who was the hat-trick hero of Ahli’s win over Fujairah last Wednesday, was running all over the park last night, but he missed two great opportunities in the first half, blasting the ball high over the target.
Lima, too, could have put Ahli ahead during first-half added time, but he failed to put away Ribeiro’s inch-perfect cross following a counter-attack.
Thankfully, he came back to make amends in the second half, but the job is only half done.
Ahli and the UAE fans will be hoping for more of the same from Lima and his teammates in the second leg at the Rashid Stadium three weeks from now.
arizvi@thenational.ae
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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23-man shortlist for next six Hall of Fame inductees
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THE DETAILS
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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The Al Barzakh Festival takes place on Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30pm in the Red Theatre, NYUAD, Saadiyat Island. Tickets cost Dh105 for adults from platinumlist.net
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
