"It was a different experience," says Zigor Aranalde with a degree of understatement as he reflects on half a year working in the country which is now hosting the most controversial of World Cups.
Aranalde, the former Carlisle United defender, spent six months coaching Al-Sadd, the leading club in Qatar. It gave him near-the-ground insight into the nation and sporting culture on which the globe’s eyes are currently trained and where its best footballers are gathered.
Aranalde was there from last December until this summer in a coaching team lead by Javi Gracia, the former Watford and Valencia manager with whom he has regularly worked. The 49-year-old says he witnessed many of the nuances, difficulties but also upsides of the small nation which, amid clouds of moral debate, is right now at the centre of the world.
The Basque coach went there without reservation when Gracia was approached to replace the great Xavi, who took over at Barcelona. “The gaffer [Gracia] was positive and we spoke about it as a group,” Aranalde says. “We knew the league was lower quality than what we were used to, but you can always experience different things.
“A lot of Spanish people were working there too with the Qatar national team, a lot of contacts we knew. We put all these things together and, while we knew it could be a short experience, we wanted to taste it – taste a difference place, different culture, different country.”
We talk first about the footballing side of Qatar. Al-Sadd are regular winners of the Qatar Stars League and this continued during Aranalde’s stay there, in a competition whose standard, he says, was limited.
“We won the league easily, with two draws and 20 wins. It was a record for the club. In terms of the quality of the players in Qatar, it is nowhere near what we are used to in Spain, England, or Europe in general,” he says.
“They are developing the league, but in terms of Qatari players, it is a problem. You can have international players – we had an Asian player, five Spanish, and Portuguese, and they give you the quality.
“We had most of the best players in the country, including ten Qatari international players. But the Qatari players’ quality is less than a League Two quality player. Overall the quality of the league is not the best.”
The quality of Qatar on the pitch was further emphasised by their rickety performance in the opening World Cup game, when Ecuador might have won much more easily than by their 2-0 margin. Aranalde does feel Qatar, who take on Senegal today, are capable of performing better, and defying some expectations, but notes that it is a sporting nation still at the relative outset of its ambitions.
“They have a lot of money, and are using a lot of money to build the sports,” he says. “They started the process of the Aspire Academy [in 2004] and, when they were announced to be the next World Cup host, really looked to develop not just football but all sports.
“The [Olympic] high jump [gold] medallist [Mutaz Essa Barshim] is the brother of the national team goalkeeper. They are taking tennis tournaments and preparing in many different sports. The problem they will always have is that Qatari-born people are very few. There are something like 3,000 Qatari-born people. You can imagine that number compared with other countries in terms of competing.”
In terms of life in Qatar, Aranalde says his own quality of living was “good”, but he was realistic to the fact this was not the case for everyone in the country, something highlighted by the great controversy over the treatment of migrant workers in the preparations for the World Cup. There has also been ferocious debate over awarding a tournament to a nation that prosecutes LGBTQ+ people.
Initially, Aranalde says there was little in the way of what you would consider normal excitement ahead of such an event. “There were a lot of people coming in and out, from FIFA and UEFA, to meetings and events. But in terms of people living here, I didn’t find anything other than the country continuing with the works, finishing streets and everything.
“I imagine if you are in a country like, for example, Argentina, four months before the World Cup it would be a different excitement. In [Qatar], other than preparing the works, meetings and a few matches here and there, nothing.”
In terms of the human aspect of this controversial World Cup, Aranalde’s perspective is balanced. “The way I saw people to be treated in Qatar, overall, has been with respect,” he says.
“Although it’s true that all the people working in the streets…that was not the nicest thing to see. There were many, building the buildings, finishing the roads, they work 24 hours, seven days, and they are not paid enough.
“On the side of human rights…it’s true. Regardless of what anyone wants to say, in these countries they don’t respect like we do, and it’s a problem.
“It’s not up to me, but for sure, if you give these considerations to human rights, it’s almost impossible to give these kinds of countries the opportunity to organise a World Cup, or Olympics. If that was the reason, I wouldn’t.”
It is, in these respects, an “unusual” choice for a host nation, Aranalde says. “Look from these perspectives – it’s a small country, no football culture, everything is very new. But they have a lot of money. I don’t know if they bought the World Cup; that is something you can’t say. It’s something you can only imagine. But most of the time it’s all about money. In this case, I would say it’s all about money.”
Those who have scrutinised FIFA would say the corruption was more flagrant than that. Aranalde, meanwhile, searches for possible benefits of Qatar 2022.
“If you want these kind of countries [involved], you have to look for [evidence that] some of them are doing more effort than others [in this region], and I think Qatar is doing more effort than others. If it is the opportunity to open to the world, and to start being a different country than in the past, then I think it’s a good idea.
“If they are not going to use this to be more open, more democratic, more respectful with human rights, it’s not a good idea. What I sensed, with the people we met at the club and worked with daily, Qatari people are wanting to step forward and be more open.
“It’s not going to happen [overnight]. But maybe this kind of event will help them go towards that. Everybody will be looking, and lots of people are going to Qatar, because of this. We will see how they treat them. After the World Cup, it wouldn’t make sense if everything stopped there and they stepped back again.”
Many will question the likelihood of that happening at a World Cup which appears as much about promoting Qatar’s geopolitical power than its willingness to evolve culturally. Aranalde, meanwhile, is unsurprised that the nation’s opening game against Ecuador did not attract the most vociferous or durable of attendances.
At club games, he says, “there was no attendance! There is not enough people to go and watch all the games. In the league games the attendance was very poor – I don’t know, 1,000 some games, 500 others. People don’t go to watch football, only a few. It was strange.”
Aranalde and Gracia left Al-Sadd in June after they failed to qualify for the Asian Champions League. “We had the chance to break the contract at the end of the season if we weren’t happy, and the club also had the opportunity to do so,” he says.
“The club didn’t make the step for us to stay there, and the gaffer wasn’t very happy. We decided that was it.”
Aranalde is now at home in Spain, awaiting his next footballing challenge, but overall pleased that he sampled what Qatar had to offer. “All experiences anybody has in life, if you only want to see negative, you will always see the negative,” he says. “I prefer to see the positives. We lived in a different country, met different people, saw things we didn’t know.
“If I had to go back and work again in that club, or another club in Qatar, if the opportunity was good, I would go back for sure.”
Aranalde is unsure where his next step will take him. Since his playing days ended, he has predominantly worked in England and Spain, whether in Brighton’s scouting set-up or at Gracia’s side, and is torn between remaining with the latter or going it alone and pursuing a management opportunity.
“When we are working with the gaffer [Gracia], we always relate it to what is there, and what he would or wouldn’t go for,” he says. “Apart from that, I always have the feeling to do it on my own. If there is a chance to take a team and do my own business, and it’s interesting, I will study the case.”
Aranalde has, in the past, been linked with the Carlisle job without the prospect materialising. He would, he stresses, jump at the chance of returning to English football generally. “Of course,” he says. “If there is one country to work and I would go always, it’s England. I enjoyed England as a player and a coach, and it is the best place to work in football in the whole world.”
Aranalde is heartened to hear of his former club’s progress under Paul Simpson, the manager who signed him back in 2005, while he sounds genuinely thrilled to know that supporters still hold him in high regard for the three-year spell which included, in 2005/6, a key part in United’s League Two title-winning team.
Aranalde, a classy left-back, was and remains popular among Carlisle supporters. “That makes me happy,” he says. “It’s good to know. One of my best times in football was in Carlisle. I enjoyed it so much.
“I’ll always be grateful first to Simmo – he took me there, showed me the place. It’s amazing how time goes quickly, but we’re still in contact.”
Our brief nostalgia trip touches Aranalde, who asks if I can send him the News & Star’s photo of the moment at Rochdale in 2006 when, in the wake of Carlisle securing the championship, a supporter threw a Basque flag his way.
He says he speaks to Simpson “once or twice a year” and believes the manager is plainly capable of returning the good times back to Brunton Park this season. “It’s good to know he is well, and they are doing well at the club,” he says. “They are happy for him to be there and they are in a good position, around the play-offs. If they keep doing well then they will have automatic promotion options. I think they could do it.
“I think it is a really good thing for Simmo to be back there. He is popular, knows the club inside out and, on top of everything, as well as being a good person he is a top man. When you bring someone like him in, and things go well, it brings people back to watch. I’m sure many people are willing for Carlisle to do well.”
Supporters will be willing them on in the FA Cup this weekend, and the second round tie happens to involve two of Aranalde’s former clubs. Before his 126 appearances for Carlisle, he made 224 for Walsall between 2000 and 2005, having begun his English football journey with the Saddlers following a move from Spanish club Logrones.
He chuckles at my description of the tie as a ‘Zigor derby’, and ponders the obvious question of who he would favour this weekend. “My two teams!” he exclaims. “Really, it’s 50-50. But if I had to go with someone now, I would go with Carlisle, because I’ve got Simmo there. So I go with Carlisle this time.”
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