On Monday the Welcome Tour of next month's Club World Cup was held in Cairo at the headquarters of the Ahli Club which is representing Africa in the tournament. The team's head coach Mohamed Youssef and team captain Wael Gomaa unveiled the trophy which had arrived in Cairo on Sunday accompanied by FIFA's Oliver Vogt, the event's manager, as well as Takahiro Arima and Ymitaro Watanabe, representing the sponsor company Dentsu. The 2013 FIFA Club World Cup moves from Japan and the UAE to Africa for the first time next month, in Morocco. “This time, we are on African territory and it is a very special to have the event being held in Morocco. The FIFA Club World Cup in itself is so special to FIFA because it is the only one in which we are dealing with clubs, not national teams. It is a young event because of the number of teams. Most of the winners were either Europeans or South Americans. Who will be the winner this time? This is what we don't know yet, but we as FIFA hope the best team wins,” said Vogt. The centre piece of the global Welcome Tour is the FIFA Club World Cup trophy which has been displayed in the cities of the seven participating clubs, providing the public a unique opportunity to experience the prized trophy that will be awarded to the FIFA Club World Cup winners in Marrakech on 21 December. “The Welcome Tour is a fantastic opportunity to bring the FIFA Club World Cup to the home of thousands of passionate fans of all the qualifying teams. This is the first time that this ambitious project has been undertaken and I would like to thank each of the participating clubs for their tremendous support in helping FIFA realise this initiative,” said FIFA President Joseph Blatter. The Welcome Tour in Cairo was the fifth stop. It began in Yokohama, the host city of the FIFA Club World Cup in the 2012 final, on 20 October and is taking a journey which included visiting four other cities including Auckland, New Zealand 26-27 October, Belo Horizonte, Brazil 2-3 November, Monterrey, Mexico 9-10 November, Guangzhou, China 17 November and now Cairo, Egypt 25 November. “The next stop next weekend will see the Welcome Tour arriving in Munich 29-30 November, home to the European League Champions Bayern Munich” Vogt said. “The tour will continue until it reaches its final destination, Casablanca, home of Raja Casablanca as the host club on 1 December. The trophy will remain there until the event kicks off on 1 December.” Chairman of the Ahli club, Hassan Hamdi, welcomed the audience and the media, expressing how proud the club was to make it to the FIFA Club World Cup for the fifth time. “I thank the team for all the effort they have done and winning the Champions League which took us to participating in this event for the second time in a row. Winning the Champions League and qualifying to the World Club Cup is an exceptional achievement for Ahli. I am really proud of it as it came in very hard times. And to be there five times out of nine is another great achievement. I also thank all who have contributed to the success of the club,” Hamdi said. Previous participation for Ahli in the tournament was in 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2012. In 2006, Ahli claimed the bronze medal after beating Mexico's Club America 2-1 in a thrilling match that saw Mohamed Abu Treika scoring twice. Head coach of Ahli Mohamed Youssef said that he was really happy for the club to make a fifth appearance. “This tournament is so special. Winning the African Champions League for a second time in a row was a great achievement for us as we were struggling and facing difficulties during the past two years especially with no domestic competition being played. The players did a great job and for that I thank them and I hope we can put on a good performance in Morocco. “Our main focus now is our opening match against China's Guangzhou Evergrande. It is a strong team and we have to study it well and work on it as part of our preparations.” Vogts was admiring of the Ahli club. “Their achievement is outstanding. And on behalf of FIFA and its president, I do congratulate them for winning the Champions League and qualifying to the tournament in Morocco. I really wonder how they did it especially when they are playing in such circumstances and no competitions are being held in the country. Then I came to believe what I heard here in Egypt before -- that it is the spirit of the red shirt.” “Ahli have become an experienced team by taking part for the fifth time in this event, sharing this achievement only with Auckland City of New Zealand. Ahli has thus made our life, we FIFA , easier in dealing with them in the competition. They are not newcomers and we need not worry about having to acknowledge them with regulations, protocols… etc,” Vogt added. Fact file Egyptian League: 36 times Egypt Cup: 35 times Egypt Super Cup: 7 times African Champions League: 8 times African Cup Winners Cup: 4 times African Super Cup: 5 times
