Broken TVs and family disharmony: Fans in UAE unwilling to compromise love of Uefa Champions League

No compromise for these Champions League fanatics, writes Maryam Al Shamsi.

Football fan Khalifa Al Ali watches the Uefa Champions League at Layaly Zaman in Abu Dhabi. Delores Johnson / The National

As the Uefa Champions League reaches its latter stages, football fans around the UAE are faced with more late nights filled with fluctuating emotions as they stay up to follow their favourite teams.

One such fan is Emirati Saeed Ghanim, 43, who has not missed a Real Madrid match for more than 20 years and says he gets pretty worked up when things do not go the way of Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates.

“I reach a point where I break my television if my team loses in the Champions League,” Ghanim said.

“I broke my television maybe six times so far. I hurl anything in front of me, usually my ashtrays, sometimes vases or other solid objects.”

It is an expensive issue for Ghanim as his televisions are pricey plasma screens.

Other Champions League fans in the UAE do not necessarily break things, but arguments among siblings are common.

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Take Noora Mohammed, a 21-year-old Somali and a Real Madrid fan, who says 10.45pm or 11.45pm kick-off times do not faze her.

“I never miss a match of the Champions League. Even though I have work the next day I still watch regardless how late the matches starts,” she said.

“I watch the Champions League with my sisters. One of them is a Barcelona fan and I am a Real Madrid fan.

“We can be as crazy as boys, we would fight, argue and scream at the television. Actually I think we can be more expressive than boys.”

Mohammed said she was so upset after Real Madrid drew 0-0 in the first leg of their quarter-final against Atletico Madrid a week ago that she “couldn’t stop crying knowing the consequences of not winning in the first leg”.

Luckily for her, Madrid won the second leg on Wednesday to progress to the semi-finals and may even be pitted against Barcelona, and her sister, when the draw is made on Friday.

“Every time the theme song comes up I get goose bumps and sing to the top of my lungs. I can never miss a match,” she said.

“Unless if it is Real Madrid playing the same day, I miss the other match but still stay updated through social media.”

While one fan sacrifices his TV and another puts family harmony in jeopardy, Omar Haider often places watching the Champions League over studying, saying it actually calms him down.

“Balancing studies and Champions League can be challenging at times. It all depends on how much workload I have and whether there is an exam the next day or not,” says Haider, 23, a Pakistani, who was born and raised in Dubai.

“The reason I would sacrifice some study time to watch the game is because Champions League can ease my stress which is related to work. It doesn’t even have to be my own team playing, which is Chelsea.

“It can be any team as long as its two competitive teams going head to head then I would take time to watch the game.

“It’s mainly the beauty of football, the beauty of the sport, the passion of the fans, players, coaches, and manager in the sport.”

Khalifa Al Ali, 24, an Emirati, says the reason fans are prepared to miss out on sleep to watch the Champions League is its superior quality to other football competitions.

“My reason for watching the Champions League is because such great coaches, players and professionals play in this league,” he said.

While Al Ali does not mind staying up late for Europe’s premier club competition, he would not do the same for the Asian Champions League.

“The Uefa Champions League is far more superior and prominent than the Asian Champions League, so I do not bother watching the AFC Champions League.”

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