Tears of joy mixed with chants of throats thirsting for football fun, overshadowed the football festival hosted by the Olympic Stadium in Sayun Governorate in Hadramout, after Fahmane Abyan club won the Yemeni Premier League title at the expense of its counterpart Sana’a Club by penalty kicks 2/4 After the match ended in its original time in a goalless draw.
The joyful atmosphere experienced by the citizens, along with the club’s delegation, which arrived at its headquarters in the city center, to celebrate despite the difficult economic conditions and the deterioration of services.
With a standing ovation, hundreds of residents of Mudiyah District, Abyan Governorate, received the delegation of Fahman Club, coming from the city of Seiyun in Hadramout Valley, bearing the shield of the Yemeni Premier League 2021, which was resumed again in mid-September, after a 6-year hiatus due to the war in Yemen since 2015. With the participation of 14 clubs, they competed in the tournament according to the pool system, after they were divided into two groups, each group containing 7 clubs.
Sports defeat the impossible
No one would have guessed that these players, who practice their training behind a wall surrounding a dirt field, await a miracle that will remain immortal in the minds of Yemeni sport fans forever.
It was very evident that there is nothing impossible in the Abyan football, this is what the feet of the players in the tournament that they participated in without any financial resources, and players, most of whom are poor, destitute, and despite the fact that they entered the tournament with the lowest chances and not considered a real candidate, in front of other historic clubs rich in experience, titles and names. Nevertheless, they stood peer-to-peer in front of everyone they met, and threw behind them all the nominations that were completely far from them even to pass the first round, let alone reaching the final, so that the sons of coach Mohamed Al-Baadani defied all odds and dropped all the adults one by one and won the championship, and wrote from the story of their suffering lessons in determination and challenge facing the impossible, a story that will inspire many now and in the future.
Dark Horse
A great consensus in the Yemeni sports street, considering the coronation of the Fahman Club - the "black horse" as the fans called it - a historic achievement for the Abyan football, which does justice to a city full of talents that has always suffered from marginalization and neglect compared to clubs in the rest of the Yemeni governorates.
An important achievement that will be immortalized in the memory of Yemeni football fans and will be reported about a lot without stopping, according to the opinion of the fans, as it added a flavor to the championship, which was resumed after a six-year hiatus to satisfy the hunger and thirst of the sports audience all over the country.
In an exclusive interview, the famous Yemeni journalist with the Qatari sports Al-Kass channels Nasser Al-Harbi with Khuyut platform, considering that the coronation of the Fahman Club a champion of the Yemeni First Division, for the first time in its history and the history of Abyan clubs and Yemeni football under the leadership of its capable and experienced coach, Muhammad Hassan Al-Baadani, is like a miracle in light of the difficult conditions that Fahman is experiencing, as well as the extraordinary conflicting circumstances that the country is going through in general as a result of the repercussions of the instability that the country is witnessing.
He added that Fahman came from behind without being nominated by anyone to win, to storm the racing field and precede everyone and reach the front with merit and at the lowest cost and equipment. He considered that Wednesday, November 17, 2021, is a historic day for Fahmane Club, the representative of Abyan Governorate in the league championship, and a unique unprecedented sports victory, through which this rural club confirmed that it has capabilities and competencies that big city clubs do not possess, and that Abyan governorate, which comes from it, always remained the birth of talents and distinguished sports stars.
Al-Harbi denounced the statements of some football fans who downplayed the importance of the achievement under the pretext of changing the championship system due to the circumstances of the country, saying: “Voices that decrease the importance of the achievement under any justification, aim - in vain - to confuse the dimension of the great achievement, and changing the league system does not diminish the importance of the achievement or underestimate the significance of what Fahmane, his stars, and his coach have achieved, who said their words forcefully and scored a historic victory and achievement that will remain immortal in the history of Yemeni football.
For his part, sports journalist Mohsen Fadl, in his speech to "Khuyut", expresses his great happiness with this achievement and the efforts made to highlight it at all media means.
Fadl said: "As journalists, we did everything we could to cover the Yemeni league for all the clubs that were present between Seiyun and Shabwa in the various stages of the tournament until it ended with the miraculous coronation of Fahman Club with the league shield."
Featured Drama
Followers, athletes and media agreed that the victory achieved by Fahman Club under the leadership of its coach Muhammad Hassan Al-Badani and his players has shocked everyone, astonished the followers, and reached the final with a special drama that only this slender man, the owner of the grinta, can write, which leads you to something of fancy, fun, spirit and conflict rooted in the philosophy of this unique coach.
Sports journalist Samir Al Qasimi believes that no one would have imagined that a submerged team from Abyan, other than the well-known and Abyan Governorate top team "Hassan Club" would come and compete for the Yemeni League title due to several reasons on top of which is the lack of financial resources that hinder the clubs of this fertile province with talented players.
He continued, "The coach Al-Baadani fulfilled the dream of this hard-working team waiting for their roles in the football map, and fulfilled the dream of every coach who did not find an opportunity with big teams with fans and history, and the dream of football fans who love to play outside the framework of wealth, prestige and power."
Learnt lessons
“When there is successful technical management, victory is accomplished,” Sameh Al-Mouallimi - the former player of Yarmouk Club and media coordinator of the national youth team summed up the achievement, - Sameh talked about the lessons and values derived from sports and football in particular, saying: “Such lessons taught us that the challenge, patience diligence, ambition, pain, loss or victory, and achievement, are all concrete lessons for all aspects of life, if they continue in the life of any athlete, and the Fahman players were not known to anyone before this tournament, and today they shortened a great journey, and everyone is singing in the name of their club and their names.”
Al-Mouallimi pointed out that the "hashtag" of the league final between Fahman and the Wehdat Sanaa was at the forefront of Yemen's "trends" on social media, after years of various "trends" produced by the war, such as assassinations, bombing, destruction and others, which indicates the people's passion for and longing for the peace atmosphere. This is what the Yemeni masses have embodied everywhere, love and unity of the people of Yemen, and the rejection of any political interference in sports.
Will Fahman miss this opportunity?
The value of the achievement should not stop at the widespread praise that the club from the countryside of Abyan received, nor the league shield and awards, as winning the title is supposed to open the door for the club to participate in the AFC Cup 2022 play-off, in the knockout matches to reach the group stage of the AFC Cup along with the supplement clubs represented by the Bahraini East Riffa clubs, the Omani Dhofar, the Kuwaiti Arab, and the Palestinian Balata Youth Center.
However, it seems that it will remain a dream in the minds of the players, whose joy was not complete, as news emerged recently revealing that the club may not be allowed to participate because it does not meet the conditions and criteria set by the Asian Confederation for such type of continental competitions.
Sports journalist, Dhu Al-Nourain Nasser, confirms to "Khuyut", that the Football Association preferred to sell the illusion to the participating teams - that the league champion will participate in the qualifiers for the AFC Cup groups - knowing that no one will and will not participate, regardless of the name of the champion.
Nasser attributed this to many reasons; Including the suspension of official sports activities in the country seven years ago, as well as the absence of professional laws in Yemeni clubs in general, given the prohibition of the clubs in this league to bring professional players from outside the country. Additionally, the potential failure to find safe stadiums in view of the current circumstances, and other strict Asian laws to obtain a participation license which may decrease the participation opportunity in from of the Yemeni clubs at the present time.
