Daniel Loepfa, 41 and his wife, Susanne Jokisch, may need to practise diplomacy over dinner in the coming weeks.
Loepfa, on leave from his job with the Swiss Ministry of Finance, was born in Switzerland while Ms Jokisch, a German, works at the embassy in Abu Dhabi.
Their two boys, aged seven and four, hold dual citizenship, though Mr Loepfa says they will back their dad, and Switzerland, first.
During the World Cup, it means the household will have two teams to cheer for.
That is, unless Germany and Switzerland cross paths.
"It could be a family internal battle when maybe Switzerland will play Germany in the final," says Mr Loepfa, one of about 1,000 Swiss living in the UAE. "But for this, Switzerland must perform very well."
Indeed, the earliest the two sides could meet is in the semi-finals. Mr Loepfa believes that if Switzerland cannot advance, at least out of its group, in this tournament, "they will never do it."
Switzerland, ranked 24th in the world by Fifa, managed a 1-1 draw with Italy, the reigning world champions, last Saturday. Mr Loepfa believes that the result bodes well for the Swiss, who open their tournament against Spain, the winners of the European Championship in 2008.
"This will be a crucial match," he says. "I hope they can at least make a draw and then it looks good. The Swiss team, you never know. One day they play very well and the next day they have a problem."
For Susanne Baumgartner, the executive director of the Swiss Business Council, the matches will be a chance for expatriates from her country to mingle with supporters of the national team they are playing.
The council is finalising a venue to watch the match against Spain and plan to invite the Spaniards to watch it with them.
"If we win we are happy, but normally we lose," says Ms Baumgartner. "So it is just nice to get together and cheer your team on."
Switzerland, along with Austria, hosted Euro 2008, but the tournament did not go well for the Swiss, who finished last in their group.
However, for the Swiss ambassador to the UAE, Wolfgang Amadeus Bruelhart, that tournament was a chance to raise his country's profile here and to pass the baton on to South Africa.
A Euro 2008 bus travelled the emirates and a football was signed by the rulers of each of the seven emirates.
"The idea was to motivate and to make awareness of Europe," Mr Bruelhart says. "That was a great experience, I must say. We included South Africa in the signing of the ball."
The ambassador is trying to arrange a friendly match between the UAE and Switzerland. He hopes it will happen next year.
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Low turnout
Two months before the first round on April 10, the appetite of voters for the election is low.
Mathieu Gallard, account manager with Ipsos, which conducted the most recent poll, said current forecasts suggested only two-thirds were "very likely" to vote in the first round, compared with a 78 per cent turnout in the 2017 presidential elections.
"It depends on how interesting the campaign is on their main concerns," he told The National. "Just now, it's hard to say who, between Macron and the candidates of the right, would be most affected by a low turnout."
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Barcelona v Liverpool, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE).
Second leg
Liverpool v Barcelona, Tuesday, May 7, 11pm
Games on BeIN Sports
The biog
Place of birth: Kalba
Family: Mother of eight children and has 10 grandchildren
Favourite traditional dish: Al Harees, a slow cooked porridge-like dish made from boiled cracked or coarsely ground wheat mixed with meat or chicken
Favourite book: My early life by Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah
Favourite quote: By Sheikh Zayed, the UAE's Founding Father, “Those who have no past will have no present or future.”
Results
2pm: Serve U – Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (Dirt) 1,400m; Winner: Violent Justice, Pat Dobbs (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer)
2.30pm: Al Shafar Investment – Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,400m; Winner: Desert Wisdom, Bernardo Pinheiro, Ahmed Al Shemaili
3pm: Commercial Bank of Dubai – Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: Fawaareq, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson
3.30pm: Shadwell – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Down On Da Bayou, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer
4pm: Dubai Real Estate Centre – Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Rakeez, Patrick Cosgrave, Bhupat Seemar
4.30pm: Al Redha Insurance Brokers – Handicap (TB) Dh78,000 (D) 1,800m; Winner: Capla Crusader, Bernardo Pinheiro, Rashed Bouresly
INDIA SQUAD
Rohit Sharma (captain), Shikhar Dhawan (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Vijay Shankar, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammad Siraj and Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper)
Sri Lanka's T20I squad
Thisara Perera (captain), Dilshan Munaweera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Ashan Priyanjan, Mahela Udawatte, Dasun Shanaka, Sachith Pathirana, Vikum Sanjaya, Lahiru Gamage, Seekkuge Prasanna, Vishwa Fernando, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay and Chathuranga de Silva.
In numbers
1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:
- 800 tonnes converted into alternative fuel
- 150 tonnes to landfill
- 50 tonnes sold as scrap metal
800 tonnes of RDF replaces 500 tonnes of coal
Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year
25 staff on site
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The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
West Asia Premiership
Dubai Hurricanes 58-10 Dubai Knights Eagles
Dubai Tigers 5-39 Bahrain
Jebel Ali Dragons 16-56 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE