FIFA Club World Cup kicks off in Morocco's Tangier
FIFA Club World Cup kicks off in Morocco's Tangier
Walid Reguragui, Moroccan football team coach and ex-coach of WAC, expects Moroccan fans to rock stadiums in Tangier and Rabat with no less enthusiasm than they showed in Doha last year.
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"People are going to discover some extraordinary fans, worthy of South American fans, perhaps one of the best audiences in the world," said Moroccan coach Reguragui. [Getty]
Two months after making history in Qatar World Cup, Morocco is set to revive football euphoria in the region with the Club World Cup which kicks off Wednesday in the northern city of Tangier.
On Wednesday morning, dozens of football supporters flocked to Tangier to attend the first match of the "Mondialito", Egypt's Al Ahly against New Zeeland's Auckland city, which will start at 8 P.M. (GMT+1).
Egypt's Al Ahly and Casablanca's Wydad are the only African teams that qualified for the "Mondialito."
Real Madrid, Auckland City, Seattle Sounders, Flamengo and Wydad AC all qualified as outright winners of their confederation's top club tournaments.
The host country's league champions Wydad AC also won the Confederation of African Football (CAF) last year, so Egyptian runners-up Al Ahly were awarded the Club World Cup's African spot.
Al Hilal was nominated by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) as the region's representative.
In this Cup, many Moroccans who used to stand in the opposite stance of the stadium cheering against the Wydad Club in local tournaments have decided to dress in the Red team attire and stand with the Winners' Ultras.
"In the end, we are all Moroccan. We want to make our nation proud again even if it means cheering for our arch-enemy team," Abdellah, a Moroccan supporter of Raja Club, Wydad's arch-enemy, told The New Arab.
Walid Reguragui, Moroccan football team coach and ex-coach of WAC, expects Moroccan fans to rock stadiums in Tangier and Rabat with no less enthusiasm than they showed in Doha last year.
"People are going to discover some extraordinary fans, worthy of South American fans, perhaps one of the best audiences in the world. There will be Tifos in the stands, I think it will be a formidable atmosphere," said coach Walid Regragui in a recent interview with FIFA.
The Moroccan train office (ONCF) scheduled more high-speed trains for the next weeks to ease the departure of football fans to the northern city. FIFA Club World Cup has also offered ticket holders free bus travel for matches in Tangier.
Several Qatar World Cup stars are set to compete in the Mondialito including Al-Hilal's Salem Aldawsari, Real Madrid's Luka Modric and WAC's Yahia Attiyat Allah.
Attiyat Allah will also be the only member of the Atlas Lions who participates in the FIFA Club World Cup.
Morocco hosts this year's competition, its third time so far. This year's matches will be played across two venues – the 65,000-seater Ibn Batouta Stadium in Tangier and the 52,000-capacity Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat.
The WAC hopes to surpass the record of its arch-rival Raja Casablanca, who lost the final against Bayern Munich in 2013, by winning the final match on Feb 11 this cup.
"I think the trap game is Al-Hilal. If they [WAC] manage to defeat Al Hilal, I think they can reach the final to challenge Real Madrid (in an eventual final). Anything is possible," Regragui told FIFA.
Wydad fans hope that Reguragui's "Niya" will help Moroccans once again to make history and celebrate a long-awaited victory in the Moroccan streets.
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