ALKHOBAR/JEDDAH, 14 December — A Saudi man committed fraud against enthusiastic supporters of Al Ittihad Club, passing himself off as a new goalkeeper for the football team and earning the enmity of both the youths and the Jeddah-based club.
It began innocently enough. In a photo shop in Al Khobar’s Alrashid Mall, a teenager standing next to a man dressed in football kit asked if the man was a player for a local team. The man replied that he played for Al Ittihad.
Impressed, the teen proceeded to ask the man numerous questions and soon a small crowd had formed. The man stated that he was the new substitute goalkeeper for Al Ittihad. A lively conversation ensued between the purported goalkeeper and the adoring fans.
In comments that followed, the man criticized the performance of local club Al Wehda in matches against Al Ittihad. He went on to confide to the fans about Al Ittihad’s own performance, lowering his voice and whispering that while they did their best to play as one cohesive unit on the field, secretly the backups all wished that the starters would be injured or given a red card so they would get a chance to play.
He stated that the team would triumph in the upcoming match against the Iranian club, Esteqlal, in true “Ittihadi style” since the match would be played in Jeddah. Then he sighed and told everyone that while he was sad not to have been picked for the national team that would represent the Kingdom in the upcoming World Cup matches, he hoped there would still be a chance for him if he distinguished himself in Al Ittihad’s upcoming matches.
The manager of the photo shop where the pseudo goalkeeper was holding court willingly printed copies of the player’s photo, free of charge, for him to autograph for the teenagers. They went off excitedly clutching their treasures and are now bitterly disappointed to learn that they were scammed.
The pseudo goalkeeper told the youths that his name was Khaled Al-Maqahwee. He explained that he was visiting his family in the Eastern Region before returning to Jeddah to prepare for the upcoming match against Esteqlal.
Al Maqahwee stated that he had played previously for Dammam’s hometown club Al Ittifaq before being recruited by Al Ittihad.
Suspicious of the vicious comments that Al Maqahwee had publicly made against his teammates and other local clubs, one of the parents of the teens asked Arab News to verify that he actually was a goalkeeper for Al Ittihad.
In a statement to Arab News, Mousad Al Hazmi, a representative of Al Ittihad club, emphatically denied that the club had hired anyone named Khaled Al Maqahwee to play in any position on the team. Al Hazmi said that the team has three goalkeepers Mabrouk Zaid, Hussain Al Sadiq, and Haitham Al Jahani.
None of them had ever played for Al Ittifaq before coming to Al Ittihad. Al Hazmi did remember that there had been a famous goalkeeper for Al Ittifaq with the last name of Al Maqahwee, but his first name had been Fouad. Al Hazmi was disgusted that someone was trying to damage Al Ittihad’s name and said that there had never been an incident of this type involving the club before.
