A week after Morocco’s dispiriting exit from the Africa Cup of Nations, more salt into the wounds.
As the standard-bearers for Arab and African football watch from afar as a tournament in which they were expected to reach the final continues without them, a long-term project appears to be slipping beyond their reach.
He is Brahim Diaz, the gifted Real Madrid playmaker, who spent Sunday evening wowing the Bernabeu stadium in a Madrid derby that had cast him unexpectedly into the limelight and put his international future under renewed discussion.
Brahim had been due to start against Atletico on the substitutes' bench. The winger Vinicius Junior then sustained an injury shortly before kick off and Brahim was thrust into the starting XI.
He has had a good 2024 so far. It was about to get even better.
Twenty minutes in, he scored the game’s opening goal, all nimble footwork and a composed, chipped finish. He might have added a second before half time, and when, with a little under 20 minutes left, Brahim was withdrawn by manager Carlo Ancelotti, there were some perplexed noises from around the Bernabeu.
He was, by a wide consensus, the home side’s man of the match. Without him, Real lost some of their momentum. They lost two points, too, conceding a late Atletico equaliser.
Real and Atletico have played each other three times already this calendar year, in three competitions; Brahim has been Real’s jewel in the duels. He came on nine minutes from full-time during a wild Spanish Super Cup semi-final in Riyadh, with Atletico leading 3-2.
A Brahim run opened up the space for an equaliser. A zippy, determined Brahim run and angled strike from 25 yards out sealed a 5-3 win in extra-time. Real went on to win the final against Barcelona.
This is Brahim Abdelkader Diaz’s second spell at Madrid, a fresh peak in a career that, for a player of only 24, has packed in a lot. He was the prodigy scouted by Manchester City at 16 and part of a Premier League-winning campaign before he turned 19.
He had a Liga winners’ medal at the end of his first full season, 2019/20, after joining Madrid. Seeking more regular starts, he joined AC Milan on loan, a deal that was renewed to extend to three seasons in all. He was a key contributor to Milan winning Serie A in 2022 and reaching the Champions League semi-final a year later.
Through much of this hopscotching from one leading club to another, there has been an continuing tug-of-war over Brahim’s senior international career.
He was born in Malaga, Spain, to a Moroccan father and Spanish mother, has represented Spain across several age groups as his career developed and played one senior friendly for Spain in 2021. None of which prohibits him exercising his right, as a Moroccan citizen, to play for the Atlas Lions.
Morocco’s manager, Walid Regragui, has spoken extensively to Brahim, and made persuading the player a priority from almost as soon as he took over the role 18 months ago.
A place in the 2022 World Cup squad was offered to Brahim, but he paused on it. Morocco promptly knocked out his native Spain and then Portugal to make history as the first African or Arab nation in a World Cup semi-final.
Regragui, who has successfully brought in a number of dual-nationals to his Morocco squad, was back in touch with Brahim after the Qatar World Cup.
Brahim explained he felt a genuine dilemma and wanted time to decide between Spain, where his former under-21s coach, Luis de la Fuente, took over as manager last year, and a soaring Morocco. He said the same to De la Fuente.
Both coaches have become weary of the waiting. Regragui can hardly have helped feeling frustrated over the past two weeks, while Brahim was shining for Madrid and Morocco’s Afcon campaign in Ivory Coast was turning sour.
Regragui has long envisaged – and described in detail to the player – the sort of creative role Brahim might play in a Morocco side with a clear shape and structure.
He would be the kind of game-changer that Morocco so lacked this time last week, when, with Hakim Ziyech and Sofiane Boufal missing with injury, they were unexpectedly outwitted in Afcon’s last-16 round by South Africa, 2-0 victors over Regragui’s World Cup heroes.
Word from those close to Brahim is the procrastination is soon to end. His Madrid form has convinced De la Fuente that Brahim would be an asset for Spain at this summer’s European Championship.
But, signalling his impatience with the unresolved tug-of-war, De la Fuente said: “Anyone who joins the Spain team has to come with total commitment, and not with the threat of ‘if you don’t pick me, I’ll go somewhere else’.”
Fitness permitting, the plan is that Spain call up Brahim for next month’s internationals, and that he answers “yes”, at the expense of Morocco.
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
World Sevens Series standing after Dubai
1. South Africa
2. New Zealand
3. England
4. Fiji
5. Australia
6. Samoa
7. Kenya
8. Scotland
9. France
10. Spain
11. Argentina
12. Canada
13. Wales
14. Uganda
15. United States
16. Russia
THE BIO
Favourite author - Paulo Coelho
Favourite holiday destination - Cuba
New York Times or Jordan Times? NYT is a school and JT was my practice field
Role model - My Grandfather
Dream interviewee - Che Guevara
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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UAE cricketers abroad
Sid Jhurani is not the first cricketer from the UAE to go to the UK to try his luck.
Rameez Shahzad Played alongside Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett in Durham while he was studying there. He also played club cricket as an overseas professional, but his time in the UK stunted his UAE career. The batsman went a decade without playing for the national team.
Yodhin Punja The seam bowler was named in the UAE’s extended World Cup squad in 2015 despite being just 15 at the time. He made his senior UAE debut aged 16, and subsequently took up a scholarship at Claremont High School in the south of England.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
