Goans based in Qatar to be part of the fans group in coming days, says group leader
A group of Portuguese fans in Qatar.
Photo Credits: The Goan
DOHA, QATAR
Aaiez Mohammed Shamli does not know anything about Portugal or for that matter about Cristiano Ronaldo, a football idol to millions and millions of fans worldwide. He is too young for that. He is just eight-months old. Age and the hot summer sun did not keep him away from the Portugal Qatar fans social media shoot for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Come Monday the toddler was all up for the game.
Trigger happy and ready to pose for the cameras, Aaiez was enjoying all the attention as he along with another 150-odd football fans based in Qatar following the Iberian country took part in the nearly two and half hour shoot at Doha Sports City (DSC).
DSC, popularly known as Aspire Zone earlier, hosts a number of Qatar’s sporting landmarks - the Khalifa Stadium one of the eight venues of the World Cup, the Aspetar Hospital, 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum, the state-of-the-art Aspire Academy, Qatar Anti-doping building and is also home to a building designed in the shape of the year 2022 to coincide with the county hosting the FIFA World Cup.
Aaiez 'parents were some of the early birds who turned up at the venue at 5.30 am and for the next one hour one by one fans came in to make the numbers. By the time the shoot started at two places with the 2022 building and the 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum in the background, fans from India and Portugal based in Qatar were rubbing shoulders.
For the record, Aaiez parents, Mohamed Shaheel and Shamli Shaheel , are not Portuguese citizens nor hail from any of the former Portuguese colonies in India like Goa, Daman, Diu, and Nagar Haveli but they hail from the Indian state of Kerala.
For the 150-odd Indian fans of Portugal, who turned up in Portuguese colours, flags and other memorabilia, it was the deep love for Cristiano Ronaldo which primarily made them supporters of Selacao, and they were flaunting it quite openly. “We are Cristiano Ranaldo fans, no doubt about it. We are supporting Portugal at the 2022 World Cup because of him,” said Shabbir, while speaking to The Goan, on the sidelines of the photo shoot.
Shabbir was part of the group from Kerala, who are based in Qatar, and which took part in the social media shoot, some of whom were youngsters enjoying their summer holidays and also women. The football fans showing their solidarity with Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal in the early hot and humid Qatar summer conditions were not just confined to Kerala, India but a number of them were Portuguese citizens based in Qatar.
Qatar fan leader for Portugal Elisabete Reis led the pack, around whom the entire group of fans rallied behind. She is the one who is coordinating with a lot of organizations, communities and fans groups and bringing them to one platform, including the Supreme Committee, the body entrusted with organizing the football fiesta which takes place during the November-December period this year.
“We are joining all forces and fans of Portugal, as fans of Portugal are not just based in Portugal but based in different parts of the world. So, we all together are supporting this incredible national team and this incredible player they and I love so much,” said Mozambique-born Elisabete, who spent a number of years in another Portuguese Macau and now has made Qatar her base for the last 16 years.
The Portuguese group based in Qatar which came with the slogan “Este Mundial Para Portugal” (This time for Portugal) comprised of individuals drawn from various fields. Leading the front were the certified personal trainer couple Paolo Sergio Da Silva Neves and Sara Gomes Marques, Paolo hails from Porto city and is a die-hard fan of FC Porto while his wife Sara from Lisbon backs Sporting Clube to the hilt. “We are confident that Portugal will win the club, this time it has to be Portugal,” said the couple.
Nursery teacher and blogger Susana Almeida from Lisbon based in Qatar for the last 11 years, Lucia Alberto and Carina Fonseca, both conservators working at a reputed museum in Qatar were more than happy at the early morning shoot and looking for the football extravaganza, the first world Cup in the middle East.
For all of them the Qatar World Cup will be their maiden one, and also for Alvaro Neves, from the aviation field, for whom Rugby is his first love. “I spent 14 years in South Africa including the period when the World Cup of 2010 was held over there but I did not go for the matches. But in Qatar I have bought tickets for four matches and I will be attending the Portugal matches.”
Absent from the list were fans from Goa, a former Portuguese colony. But that will all be a past as Goans will join the Portugal fan brigade in Qatar in the coming weeks. “Efforts are on to network and expand the fan base in Qatar. We are coordinating and networking with quite a few prominent Goan leaders based in Qatar so that all Portugal fans are brought under one umbrella ahead of the FIFA World Cup,” said Elisabete on a parting note.
