Football fans facing a season devoid of football due to the block on beIN Sports say they'll likely turn to internet streaming sites in the hope of seeing their teams play.
In the shisha cafes of Abu Dhabi yesterday, fans were resigned to sitting in front of a laptop in August.
Etisalat and du blocked access to beIN Sports two months ago. Some cafes and residents with direct subscriptions to beIN can continue to screen games, though it is not clear if they will be able to renew later this year.
For many, live-streaming games through British and German websites is an option, though there is no Arabic commentary - and such services are typically unreliable. Some are paid for and others free.
"I'm a big football fan, and now I have to watch it online," said Sarah Elchanti, a 29-year sales manager from Palestine and a Real Madrid fan, though her favourite hang-out, Le Boulanger cafe off Al Khaleej Al Arabi Street, has the sports network for now.
"I am worried where will I watch the next season, which will start mid-August," she said of La Liga, which is exclusively shown on beIN.
"I can watch it online, but I don't enjoy it much, because the connection is weak, and the commentator is usually English or German."
Ismail Al Housani, 35, a former Al Jazira FC player, said he feels he should not watch beIN, as he works for the police and given the boycott of Qatar.
"I still have the Bein sports channels at home, they might be cut in October. I feel that if I continue to watch I am cheating myself and my principles,' he said.
"I love football, but since there has been this issue and exchange [of conflict] I've had this conviction not to watch those channels."
Nagham cafe, a small shisha cafe in Muroor, also still has the channels via satellite.
Hazza Al Hammadi, 30, an Emirati financial auditor, was smoking shisha while watching Arsenal on the Doha-based network yesterday.
"I am not a major football fan, but I can still view the ones I am interested in online," he said.
"But online the transmission is 10 minutes late - so I receive an SMS to say there was a goal, way before I see it live."
Hubbly Bubbly Cafe at the Holiday Inn said they received orders to shut down the channels when the Qatar boycott began in Ramadan.
"The loyal guests still come anyway, but younger customers in their early 20s, who used to come specifically to watch the games, stopped coming during match time," said one of the waiters.
"But our shisha place is small and gets filled up right away, so it is not really impacting us," he added.
The specs
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The bio
Favourite food: Japanese
Favourite car: Lamborghini
Favourite hobby: Football
Favourite quote: If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough
Favourite country: UAE
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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.”
Bio:
Favourite Quote: Prophet Mohammad's quotes There is reward for kindness to every living thing and A good man treats women with honour
Favourite Hobby: Serving poor people
Favourite Book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite food: Fish and vegetables
Favourite place to visit: London
