JEDDAH, 3 July 2005 — Al-Ittihad Club President Mansour Al-Balawi, jubilant over the achievement of Ittihad emerging champions in the Arab Champions League on Friday, was quick to announce monetary rewards to the club players.
Al-Ittihad won the return leg of the final against Sfaxin of Tunisia 2-1 before a capacity crowd of 26,000 at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here. They won 4-1 on aggregate after having posted a 2-0 first-leg victory in Tunisia earlier.
As the team and the fans celebrated, Al-Balawi immediately awarded each Ittihadi player SR100,000 after the match. This award was in addition to the SR100,000 they had already received following their away match in Tunisia.
With this new reward the Ittihad players now have been gifted a total of SR200,000 for becoming the numero uno team in the event.
Al-Balawi lauded the club’s administration and the coach for a fine job throughout the season. He also urged the team to sustain the performance in their upcoming match against Al-Hilal of Riyadh in a week’s time. The teams meet in the second match of the stepladder final of the King Fahd Cup soccer tournament.
Ittihad fans took to the streets after the result to celebrate their team’s victory by honking their cars’ horns and waving the colors and flags of their team. This was Ittihad’s first victory after seven attempts.
Hamad Al-Muntashiri, Ittihad defender, congratulated the Ittihad supporters for the achievement.
“We could not have done it without continuous support from the people,” he said, adding: “This achievement is behind us and, now we are looking to win our match against Hilal in the King Fahd Cup. This great victory will be a good booster for us to win another trophy.”
