Championship
In the second round of the championship when the Kuwait national team consisting almost exclusively of young players with only three or four seasoned ones, came in the second place, the local Sport Unions were furious, for they regarded the Gulf football championship an end in itself and the most prestigious event.
The fuss they made in the media left Sheikh Fahad cold, because his ambition was to have the Kuwaiti team qualified for the World Cup finals and that could only be achieved in different steps.
Taking part in the Gulf Soccer Championship was only a means to an end, not an end in itself. Knowing the potentials of his young athletes, the Sheikh was carefully planning his move for the final score.
In his determination to achieving his objective Sheikh Fahad was both an idealist and a man of action.
Getting involved in the Gulf championship gave to the national team the edge it needed to engage in more prestigious world events. The next step was to gain the Asian international championship that would have brought the Kuwaiti team to the Olympiads and eventually on to the threshold of the World Cup final.
But those who voiced the strongest opposition in the media, trying to engage the sympathy of the masses, could only see the injured pride of the seasoned players, whose place had been taken over by younger ones.
Only those players who understood his objective, realizing that personal prestige alone did not count as much as commitment, felt challenged to improve their standard for fear of being replaced.
Taking part in the eighth Asian tournament held at Bangkok in 1978, the national team suffered losses, which at first appeared unexplainable. Braving the flare of protests Sheikh Fahad had to use all his tact to withstand the opposition, which almost succeeded in discrediting his policy.
However when he discovered that some of the players deliberately did not play to their full potential, such a mischief against the best interest of his country was inexcusable. Immediately he excluded those players he could not trust; from that moment the Kuwait Football Association was to rely more heavily on new blood.
To be continued