What am I doing here, travel diary, day 21: palace intrigues and the history of a country, behind the scenes of a stadium bewitched by Messi

ahmad bin ali. This is the name of the stadium that was the setting for the match that Argentina beat Australia, with an exceptional Messi, for the round of 16 of the World Cup. This ground, one of those I have yet to visit in Qatar 2022, is located about 20 kilometers west of Doha city center and was and will be the home of Al Rayyan FC, one of the most watched football clubs in this small country and that for a moment he enjoyed (and got tired of) Giacomo Rodriguezthe fantastic Colombian who appeared in world football from Banfield.

This is one of the stages that has been completely recycled for this exotic sporting event, although the organizers have specified that 80% of the materials from the previous structure of the stadium have actually been used. It can be reached via the Green Line of the Metro and is at the gates of the desert, to which it pays homage with its peculiar design.

So far the definition that could appear in any brochure. But now comes the story behind the story.

Why does it have that name? Ahmad Bin Ali Al Thani was the emir who sealed the fate of Qatar in a historic moment. During his mandate, between 1960 and 1972, he began to explore and exploit an innumerable number of oil wells which allowed the country to change its economic and financial status. And, years later, in September, it was he who signed the letter of independence from the United Kingdom. A hero. But…

Ahmad Bin Ali got little enjoyment from Qatar’s sovereignty because six months later he was overthrown in a startling but bloody coup d’état whose mastermind was his cousin, Khalifa Bin Hamad Al Thani.

Khalifa bin Hamadwho also has his stadium in Qatar – it is the home of Al Ahli, in the Nuaija district, although he has not reached the rank of World Cup player – he took advantage of the fact that Ahman Bin Ali was on a hunting trip through Iran and remained in power in definitive form.

He had first been finance minister and then prime minister. It is argued that in reality he was the strong man, the brains, of the government and that Ahmad Bin Ali was a kind of testimonial emir who liked the pleasure of mingling with the jet set more than making strong decisions.

That’s what they say, of course. But, you know, history is written by whoever wins. For this reason the coup was taken by the world as a done and (not) right coup, but here, according to the books, it was regarded as another succession in this hundred-year-old Al Thani dynasty, which is a of the three families who have managed this territory since it was a simple and modest village.

ahmad bin aliAfter the betrayal, he decided to go into self-exile in Dubai together with one of his wives, daughter of a powerful man of that emirate. He died at the age of 55 in London. Khalifa bin HamadFor his part, it was he who laid the foundations of this modern Qatar which is today the world capital of football. His idea was his, among many others, to open borders to get skilled and unskilled manpower to populate and empower the country.

Khalifa bin Hamad He died a little while ago, in 2016, at the age of 84. But his reign ended in 1995 the same way it had begun. Yes, the turns of his life made him leave as he arrived. By force.

Is that his son, Hamad bin Khalifa -yes, the order alters the name of the emir-, began to acquire a leading role in government and also at a geostrategic level in the turbulent decade of the 1990s, at the time of the Gulf War. And in that 1995 he took advantage of the fact that his father was in Switzerland to proclaim himself emir. As had happened just over two decades earlier, no one was frightened by the violent exchange. Khalifa Bin Hamad took refuge in France for a while and returned to his country in 2004 without any hard feelings.

Hamad Bin Khalifa has been a decisive player in the region. It allowed for the creation of two US military bases, but at the same time maintained a good dialogue with Iran and played an important role during the Arab Spring by funding rebel movements in Libya and Syria. He was also the mastermind behind Al Jazeera, one of the largest media groups in the world. However, in 2013, at the age of 61, he broke with the history of coups by abdicating and handing over power to Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thaniher fourth child.

Tamim Bin Hamad is the Emir of the World Cup. At the opening party, Al Bayt Stadium roared every time he appeared on the big screens and was set on fire by his speech. Neither the millennial Messi nor Neymar nor Cristiano Ronaldo have achieved so far in this World Cup in the Middle East. In the not too distant future it will also be called a stadium.

Doha, Qatar. Special delivery.