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New stadium a ray of hope for Israel's Arabs
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-11-10 11:26
OFFICIAL OPENING
Sunday's game against Maccabi Tel Aviv was supposed to celebrate the official
opening of the ground but this has been postponed until the Qataris are also
able to attend.
United States ally Qatar hosted the U.S. command centre of the 2003 Iraq war.
It has no diplomatic relations with Israel but it has angered other Arab states
by maintaining low-level ties with the Jewish state. Israel has a commercial
attache in Qatar.
Last month in Doha, Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrehman Al Thani, head of the Qatar
National Olympic Committee (QNOC), signed the deal with an Israeli delegation
headed by Israeli Arab legislator Ahmed Tibi to fund the stadium.
A QNOC team visited the town of 25,000 earlier this year. The building was
also being supervised by Qatari officials and the funds would be channelled
through the Qatari representative in Palestinian-controlled Gaza, a QNOC
official said.
Sakhnin survived the past two relegation battles without a proper home
stadium. The municipality ran out of money while rebuilding it to conform with
Premier League standards and they had to host opponents at other grounds.
The new stadium, which affords a spectacular view of the verdant Galilee
hills in northern Israel, hosted its first game last month when Sakhnin played
Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv. The match ended in a depressing fifth straight loss for
the hosts.
Sakhnin appointed Michael Kadosh as their third coach in the space of a year
only three matches into the current campaign and he soon warned that a lack of
pre-season preparation and strike power would mean inevitable relegation.
This week Sakhnin signed Slovenian striker Darko Jukic from nearby Upper
Nazareth. They are also looking to re-hire Brazilian striker Gabriel Lima who
was instrumental in the club's cup success in 2004.
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