Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ Qadafy trying to score through Football

[AkbarWa7ed]

Qadhafi trying to score goal through football…

As Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned last week that Libya might be the first Arab country to have nuclear weapons, the world’s attention once again shifted its attention to the North African country, whose ties with the West have been shaky for the past couple of decades.



Following Qadhafi’s 1969 coup, Tripoli’s relations with Washington became increasingly tense due to what the American termed as Libya’s support of international terrorism and subversion against moderate Arab and African governments. The United States government declared Libya a “state sponsor of terrorism” in 1979 and it remains on that list of states sponsoring international terrorism ever since.

However, nowadays, Muammar Qadhafi appears to be working hard on changing and improving his country’s international image, not only through regular diplomatic channels, but also through the wonderful world of sports, or to be precise - football…

Last month, The Guardian reported that after buying a share in the Italian giant, Juventus, earlier this year, the Libyan leader is about to take over the financially troubled Greek first division team of PAOK Salonika. According to the report, Qadhafi was in talks to acquire a stake in PAOK.



PAOK’s President, George Batatoudis, has been short of money for a long time and this summer had to sell a few top players to other Greek clubs. Meanwhile, the successful coach Dusan Bajevic also left for AEK Athens. There have been ongoing calls for Batatoudis’ resignation and fans have attacked the club’s offices on several occasions. Undoubtedly one of the country’s two most popular teams, PAOK has recently signed an agreement with Juventus to exchange players and training methods.

According to Libyan officials, the President’s great appreciation for football is the prime reason for pumping cash into the game. However, in the same breath, they also admit that a keen desire to attract positive publicity, which might help Tripoli polish up its tarnished reputation, is also of essential significance.

It is well known that football is a very popular sport in Libya. Qadhafi has tried to hire such world stars as former Argentinean captain, Diego Maradona, who was brought in as an adviser and former England manager, Terry Venables, who was offered over £1m for his services. All this was done to improve the game’s standard in Libya. Even the disgraced Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson assisted for a while.

Back in January, it was revealed that the Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company (Lafico), of which Qadhafi’s son, Al-Saadi, is the public face, had taken advantage of financial problems at Juventus’ owners, the car giant Fiat, and bought a 5 percent stake in the club for a little over £14m. Al-Saadi further indicated that he wanted to buy an even larger share.

The Libyan ruler has been friendly with Gianni Agnelli, Fiat’s president since 1977, when Lafico bought a small stake in Fiat during the fuel crisis, when the car maker was in need of some investments. Later in 1986, Lafico sold its stake in Fiat for £10m.

It appears that the January deal had to do less with gaining profits and more to do with public relations and improving Libya’s global image. Soon after the deal was announced, Al-Saadi, who also serves as president of the Al-Ittihad club and a Libyan international, was pictured training with Juventus players.

Qadhafi Junior, whose favorite player is the England and Liverpool striker Michael Owen, started to promote himself as a football pundit, appearing on late night shows and offering his opinions and observations on football. Al-Saadi himself once even dreamt of playing for Manchester United. The Libyan ruler himself is reportedly a huge fan of the Brazilian star Ronaldo and when his son met this striker in Milan, he arranged for the player’s autograph for his father.



In the meantime, in what seems to be yet another clever publicity move, Libya arranged for the Italian Super Cup, in which the Italian league winners (Juventus) and cup winners (Parma) faced each other in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.

In addition, Libya appointed a former coach of Genoa, Francesco Scoglio, as national coach, in the framework of its mission to make sure the country qualifies for the World Cup in 2006.

Furthermore, in March, it emerged that Lafico was making moves to buy the much smaller Italian club of L'Aquila, who play in the Italian second division, for around £500,000, an amount of money which proved that the deal was not merely for the sake of profit.

Back to PAOK, over the last couple of weeks, fans have been calling on Qadhafi to rescue their club. In a letter sent via the Libyan embassy in Athens, Greek they conveyed, “You are our God. We kneel in homage in front of you. Buy PAOK, be the savior of our souls.”

A high-level PAOK official confirmed recently that negotiations were indeed under way. However, a source close to PAOK has said that “There are some talks at the moment with him [Qadhafi] but there is nothing specific” and added, “The club's president is the one leading the talks.”

A club official would only say, "The president does not want to confirm or deny these reports."



As deals have been rolling, it seems Qadhafi’s well-organized plans are not likely to end if the PAOK deal indeed goes through.

Many experts view South Africa as the favorite venue to host the World Cup, the most prestigious sporting event on the globe, in the year 2010, but Qadhafi sees Libya as a suitable alternative.

The Colonel’s son, for his part, has said, "Libya is in a position to organize the World Cup finals. We intend to construct the most beautiful stadiums in the world. We are not lacking on the economic front. We are prepared to invest a lot in this event."

Those monitoring Libyan affairs and following world football believe sport could help this country amend its perceived international image. Some observers even think the Libyan leader might try to buy interests in more European football teams, perhaps even British ones.

Chris Doyle from the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding, has said that Qadhafi might have two main reasons for investing in football in Italy and Greece -- to forge stronger relations with trading partners and to win some valuable publicity. He said, "I don't think that investing in football makes sound economic sense at the moment. But football is very popular in Libya and I imagine this is a good Public Relations move. It's good news for Qadhafi if people connect him with football rather than other things."

Doyle added it was not impossible that Qadhafi could try to establish links with other football nations, such as Germany and even the United Kingdom. "I don't suppose that there's anything to stop him buying into a British club," he told The Guardian.



Meanwhile, Keir Radnedge, a columnist for the magazine World Soccer, explained Qadhafi’s actions and said, "There is no doubt that a quick way to international acceptance is through football. He may be trying to legitimize himself through the sport."

Radnedge added that he believed the Libyan head of state was using his links with Italian football to get closer to the families who control much of the country's largest companies, “Once you are in bed with one of the families you are in with them all.”

What’s left for football lovers world-wide and for those following Libyan developments and affairs, is to continue keeping a close-eye on Qadhafi’s moves, as it seems the controversial leader has not yet said his final word. (Albawaba.com)

[SancheZ]

hmmm.. sounds better than wat sa7ibna bil iraq does!!

[AkbarWa7ed]

bas shoft akher soorna gaybeen Maradona ezzay!! Altho he looks as if he cant stand where he is sitting, and cant wait to go home. lol, zah2an

[SancheZ]

yah i saw that bas i reckon he looked cool among the arabs with his black suit and black glasses