“There are links, but I have never seen rockets at the stadium” | Relief
In Lebanon the ball stopped. Israeli attacks in search of Hezbollah targets forced the Lebanese Football Association to suspend competition. “Due to the current situation in the country, the executive committee has decided to postpone the matches of all tournaments to a date to be determined later,” the FAF announced on September 24. Almost not a single day was played Lebanese Premier League, a twelve-team league in which football mirrors many political and religious issues. it’s in the country.
“The teams in Lebanon are divided along religious lines,” he told Relevo. Daniel Jimenez, a Spanish coach who spent almost seven years in the country. Asian, between 2016 and 2023. “In Spain, I didn’t know the branches of the Christian or Muslim religion and at first I didn’t understand anything,” admits Jimenez, who was on four teams, each with a different orientation. “One was a Christian team, another was a Shia Muslim, one was a Sunni Muslim, and one was a Druze team.”. This religious connection also leads to association with certain political parties.
One of these relations is the one that unites Al Ahed, Beirut Club in which Jimenez spent two years, and Hezbollah, whose paramilitary group is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union. The first relationship between a team and an organization is color: in both cases, yellow is the dominant element. In addition, some club officials belonged to Hezbollah, these titles are celebrated by high ranks of the organization, and for several years Al-Manar, Hezbollah’s television, sponsored Al-Ahed. However, Jimenez warns that this is a sensitive issue and urges avoiding broad questions. “There is a connection because it is a team run by Shiite Muslims and Hezbollah is a group made up of Shiites, so most of the followers and people associated with the club are part of Hezbollah, but it is as if we are saying, that all Barcelona fans are independent people. But this is not so.”
“Most of the fans and those associated with the club are members of Hezbollah, but it is as if we are saying that all Barca fans are independent people.”
Regarding the relationship between managers and senior officials, Jimenez claims that he did not ask whether one or the other belonged to Hezbollah and states emphatically: “They never tried to manipulate me, and I never saw weapons or missiles.” Spanish coach refers to statements Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister Israeliwho, in a speech to the UN, said that Hezbollah was hiding missiles in Al-Ahed Stadium. The accusation was rejected by the Lebanese Federation and Gebran Bassi, then foreign minister. “They told me that security came from I don’t know how many countries to check if there were missiles in our stadium, and they didn’t find anything,” Jimenez explains.
Despite the fact that he was very comfortable at the club and was treated with “refinement”, the Catalan coach decided to leave due to the persistent suspicions of a connection between Hezbollah and Al-Ahed. “The hype around this relationship affected me greatly and I wanted to break it off, but I left it behind. “I wanted to make it clear that my goal is to become a coach and nothing more, without any political or religious affiliation with anyone.” “. The change was radical: it was as if he was leaving Barcelona for Real Madrid. “I went to Nejmeh, a Sunni club, although its fans are mainly Shiite, which is one of the contradictions inherent in Lebanon.”
First Lebanese team to win a continental club title
Before leaving, he had time to make history with Al-Ahed. In 2019, under his second coach, the Beirut team won the AFC Cup, the second most important competition in Asia, something like the Europa League on that continent. With this title, won 25-4 against North Korea after changing venues three times and dates twice, Al-Ahed became the first Lebanese team to win the continental title.
“Yesterday a close friend told me that their house was bombed and the children who played in the clubs where he coached were living on the street.”
After a spell as first coach at Al-Ahed, a spell at Nejm, and also serving as first coach at Akha, another Lebanese team, Jimenez left the country in 2023 to become the second coach of Egyptian modern sports. However, almost seven years in Lebanon mean that the Spanish coach is aware all day long of what is happening in the country, where 1,928 people visited until Wednesday, October 2, according to the EFE agency and according to a report from the presidential administration. died since the Israeli attacks began. “I consider Lebanon my home, my wife is Lebanese, I have family and friends there with whom I continue to communicate. A close friend told me yesterday that their house was bombed and the children who played in the clubs where I coached were living on the streets.”