Interview with Ibraham Alqassim, General Secretary of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation
He speaks on Mancini and moving in right direction with Saudi national team, Cristiano Ronaldo, impact on Saudi Football and the big names coming to strength the Saudi Pro League
He speaks on Mancini and moving in right direction with Saudi national team, Cristiano Ronaldo, impact on Saudi Football and the big names coming to strength the Saudi Pro League
Category
๐ฅ
SportsTranscript
00:00 My name is Ibrahim Al Qasem.
00:02 I'm the General Secretary of Saudi Arabian Football Federation.
00:05 Fantastic. Thank you so much for your time.
00:07 So, you have two fantastic games in Newcastle.
00:10 How is that going for you?
00:11 Well, this is now the first training camp with the new coach,
00:18 Mr. Roberto Mancini.
00:22 You know, we are building up toward the upcoming World Cup qualifiers
00:28 as well as the Asian Cup, which will happen in January.
00:33 So, as a start in this build-up process,
00:36 I think we are moving in the right direction.
00:40 We can see the technical development at the national team.
00:45 So, we are quite content with this camp.
00:53 What are your thoughts on the partnership with Newcastle United
00:56 and how that moved everything forward in Saudi Arabia?
01:00 Well, that was a great opportunity actually to come here
01:04 and see the environment ourselves.
01:09 There was an invitation initiated actually by the club
01:15 through the British Embassy to collaborate with us,
01:20 with the Saudi Arabian Football Federation.
01:22 We started that off with the women football
01:25 and then also we discussed the opportunities of the men's football.
01:31 So, we are here today.
01:33 We witnessed the environment ourselves.
01:35 We witnessed St. James Park ourselves.
01:39 We witnessed also the ambience and the audience, the spectators.
01:44 It was just lovely.
01:47 It's been a fantastic few months for Saudi Arabia
01:51 with football, it's grown incredibly.
01:53 It all started with Ronaldo coming across.
01:56 What impact has that had in the Saudi league?
01:58 Well, let's go just a couple of months before.
02:03 It all started with the World Cup,
02:06 with the Saudi Arabians won against Argentina.
02:10 That showed the world that Saudi Arabian football is moving ahead,
02:16 is moving up, is going up.
02:20 And the development on all aspects of the sports
02:25 or the football ecosystem in Saudi Arabia.
02:28 So, when it comes to technical, when it comes to players,
02:32 when it comes to coaches, when it comes to referees development,
02:36 it's all aligned in our strategy, in our football,
02:42 our long-term football strategy.
02:44 And part of that, of course, is to strengthen the league,
02:50 to make the league...
02:53 Sorry.
02:54 To make the league stronger, more competitive.
02:58 And this is what we can see now with all the names coming to Saudi Arabia.
03:03 This is just... It's not the first step.
03:06 It's one of the steps toward improving football in Saudi Arabia.
03:11 And how will those big names inspire the next generation of Saudi players as well?
03:16 Well, let's first say that football is number one sport in Saudi Arabia.
03:23 Whoever has been to Saudi Arabia and has witnessed the passion
03:30 Saudis have for football, maybe you've seen it during the World Cup.
03:37 Let's say that we always say that football runs in our veins
03:41 and truly, truly, as the young boys, young girls, as they grow up,
03:49 they have this ambition to play football, to play for the national team,
03:53 to play for their local clubs.
03:56 So, they are already inspired to play football and to go that pathway.
04:03 Having these names also, to play in front of them
04:07 while they used to see them only on TV,
04:10 that also makes a difference.
04:11 That also adds up toward their ambitions to play football
04:17 and to become elite in football.
04:20 Saudi League signing all those players obviously made a lot of noise
04:23 around the world and, you know, a lot of people talked about it.
04:26 What have you made of the things that people have said
04:28 about players going there?
04:30 So, the good and the bad things?
04:31 Well, I would just say that we are investing in our league.
04:36 We are investing to improve our league.
04:38 We are investing to increase the competitiveness in our league
04:42 and this is part of our plan to improve football in Saudi Arabia.