A reader sent me this article that appeared in The Guardian a few days ago about the state of Football in Kuwait and the UAE. The article talks about Kuwait’s football achievements in the 80s and the demise of it today.
While middle-aged Kuwaiti men are genuinely proud of the football team their country produced in the 1980s – champions of Asia in 1980, World Cup qualifiers in 1982 and Gulf Cup winners in 1982 and 1986 – the same cannot be said of the current crop of players. Dubbed the “gel team”, these shebab (young men) have been branded prima donnas by the older generation, more concerned with applying gel to their intricately styled coiffures and handing out their phone numbers to doe-eyed female admirers than with training and winning.
The article starts off with the question, “Is it because family riches spoil potential players that these countries’ sporting glories lie in the past?”. Personally I have no idea why football in Kuwait today is not as good as it was in the 80’s and early 90’s, but maybe someone else can answer that question. [Article]
Thanks Pureorama
26 replies on “The Gel Team”
the answer: yes 😛
Mark … back in the 80s everything was at the top … the theatre,tv, education, sports etc.. so the fall of footbal in Kuwait today is not the responsibility of the team … its the fall of the entire culture as a whole …
The obvious reason is change in lifestyle…..
They are good players the problem is that football in Kuwait has been neglected they keep replacing coaches and arguing over whose fault it is. The players have alot of potential but no encouragement. Look at the emirates they award their players with cars and houses while we reward our players with a 100 KD and a pat on the back.
managments of football decide who get o play on the match not the coach
thats the problem
Vitamin W
Wooohooo
They will make a comeback (إن شاء الله). They have the gulf cup and the Asian cup in a few months. We’ll see what will happen then.
lana everything is wrong now. the management is shit and always interferes. there is no trust in any coach 9adigni even if mourinho comes. the players are not motivated, not focused, and are no were physically fit to win any tournament. maku anyone thats leading the team even the coach doesnt know what to do and cant do everything he wants. training for them is no longer important. etc
I think it’s because there is no ‘price to pay’ for failure- failure in your job? Wasta gets it back. Failure at school? Mama gets the grade changed.Failure on the pitch? So what, we’ll go to the chalet, play a few games of cards, ride the jet ski, and go out and play next week……mind you, what are the present ENGLISH team but a bunch of gel squirting playboys?
our football was shitty in the 90’s…. barely qualifying is not an. achievement
but to answer you, Kuwaiti football has been hijacked by Ahmad Al Fahad, his brothers and their stooges just because their father was lucky enough to get a ready team in the 80’s (built by the likes of Ahmad Alsa3doon and Almukhled.) so they think its part of the family inheritance
Dude no it wasn’t. Samir Sa3eed was kicking ass and there was a great football rivalry between Kuwait and Saudi.
A brief general assumption is because Kuwait is run by the royal family, royal family liked football back then and spent money on it, royal family doesn’t like football now as much, so things like football, art, or culture are not on its agenda now as the government is busy with all the political shenanigans.
These people in our 80’s National Football Team respect their country jersey!
sasmir sa3eed lives next to me 😛
Mark the answer to your question can be summarized in one word: “mismanagement.” its not just football but everything else including health and education. very sad
I don’t want to say that there are no more real men in Kuwait… so I won’t.
seriously Mark, who is Saudi? they have the same symptoms of Kuwait’s mis-management
if you want advancement in asian football, then look at Korea and Japan.
gulf football is in miserable state… they qualify to the worldcup to get beaten by the 6/0 and the 8/0
lazem: I was talking about back in the early 90s
ahmad: hey maybe you could hook us up with an interview. maybe he can tell us whats wrong with football in kuwait today
I think I know why!! and I was shocked when I read about it in this article..
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/muhammad-ali-vs-bruce-lee-who-would-win-and-other-sporting-questions-767122.html
Go to the part where it says: “Do teams wearing red really do better?”
Kuwait’s soccer team used to wear red, but now its blue.
“Researchers speculate that red is the colour that signifies male dominance and high testosterone in primates and other animals. With red being the colour of anger, it is not absurd to expect it to be the colour of intimidation. Barton suggested accordingly that wearing red might give a sportsman a testosterone surge, while having the opposite effect on his opponents.”
We should change back to red.
Ahmed Alfahad and his brothers ruined Kuwait sports. That’s a fact no decent Kuwaiti can deny.
Because in the 80s Kuwait was always first. Now, it is “I am first and only”. Unfortunately this applies to Kuwaiti citizens, expats, and all parts of government. This is the result of the distrust associated with the Iraqi invasion. People suddenly realized that they can lose everything anytime.
This is one weak article.
i dont think coming from rich families has anything to do with having shit players…who said all our players come from rich families ANYWAY??
i think the reason why we have shit players is because they all play in an amature league…our players have day jobs…with families to support..if soccer isnt their job, then its their hobby…how do u expect them to compete against players who do this for a living??
yes, passion goes a long way, but it’ll only take u so far..and then good training and experience interferes and kicks passion in the nuts..
one might say, was our team in the 80s comprised of professional players who played soccer for a living?? the answer is: NO, but neither did the other players who played in Asia..we had a great team of amatures…who beat other teams of amatures..
and by the way, our player’s level of commitment is so low its disgusting…i saw one of the “big names” who play for our soccer national team the other day smoking! wow..what a true athlete..im sure his lungs allow him to run for 90 minutes and not look for opportunities to fake injuries just to lie down on the ground to catch his breath..and this is merely an example
Summer…thats false…kuwait only wears red in their away games when the other team’s first jersey is blue…not to mention that we made it to the world cup in our pretty blue jersey..
believe me..no color in the world’s gonna turn mohammed charagh into a Messi..
Football’s world governing body Fifa has suspended Kuwait from all international matches because of what it sees as interference from the government in the national game.
The guidelines required the Kuwaiti government to set up an interim board to organise fresh elections and draft new guidelines to prevent interference in running of the game by the government.
The positions of president, vice-president and three board members (total five) were to be filled up by elections. Not WASTA!
yfashlooon le3ebhom chena yel3ebon ib sekkat fereej