JEDDAH, 30 August 2005 — SoccaStars, a television program which seeks to discover talented young soccer players, began on Future Television last week. It caused much excitement among local amateur soccer players who attended the tryouts in Jeddah.
Viewers tuned in Sunday night to watch SoccaStar’s Saudi participants — Badr Al-Malki, Al-Ma’moun Ali, Udai Omar, Hatem Mutlaq, Tameem Jamal, Ahmad Habib, Abdul Rahman Bukhari, Omar Al-Kembeishy, Ahmad Krinshy, Misfir Raman, Mohammed Al-Amoudi and Majed Ghassan — who were selected after two days of tryouts at the Ministry of Education’s sports stadium last July.
Nearly 350 players showed up on the first day of the tryouts. The young Saudis will compete against one another and against other players from Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, the UAE, Algeria and Lebanon, during the two-month SoccaSkills camp in Egypt.
Revealing details of the tryouts, Amr Oura, CEO of Al-Karma Edutainment and Executive Producer of Arab SoccaStars, said that a team of experienced professional talent scouts had closely scrutinized the hundreds of aspirants before short-listing promising young men from among the hundreds of participants from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States.
During the first day of the tryouts which brought young hopefuls from all over the kingdom to Jeddah, the choices were narrowed down to 60 semi-finalists. Then the following day, 13 finalists were selected as the group that would represent Saudi Arabia during SoccaStar’s first season.
In a format similar to that of the popular television show Star Academy, television viewers from around the world will be able to cast their votes, eliminating players every week, until only one player is left. According to Hisham Khishin, a SoccaStars producer, judge and FIFA sanctioned representative, players were not only screened on their playing ability but also on their demeanor. The winner, to be selected live by SoccaStars’ television audience, will be awarded a one-year contract with the UK team, Newcastle United.
“Newcastle United is a professional football club that is internationally recognized. I am confident that the players competing for the coveted position are professionals, and have the right attitude to stand the rigors and challenges of being a part of a world-renowned football club,” Khishin told Arab News.
SoccaStars is hosted by Bassel Maher and Majdala Khattar, who themselves earned their places as presenters in a similar competition held by Melody TV just over a year ago. Maher, 19, is still adjusting to sudden fame after he and Khattar were picked by a television audience, in a similar contest, to become Melody TV’s first presenters.
“I feel the players are like my brothers because I can relate to what they are probably going through. They all have hopes and dreams of making it big. Being judged by a TV audience is not an easy thing, but it is rewarding in so many different ways. You learn more about yourself, you gain self-confidence, and an ocean of opportunities opens up before you. I still find it strange and I get really shy when people see me on the streets and say hello. I don’t know if they are someone I know but don’t recognize, or if they are perfect strangers coming up to say hello. That, among other things, is what the finalists on SoccaStars are going to experience,” Maher told Arab News.