He lives in Qatar but has a season ticket in Molineux’s North Bank
A Black Country lad is working at the World Cup in Qatar ... and soon found a local man with a passion for our region
WHEN my position came to a natural end after the successful delivery of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the opportunity arose to work on the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
For a huge football fan like me, to have the chance to work on the biggest football tournament in the World was too good to turn down. So on 11th September, I flew from Birmingham to Doha (via Istanbul) to begin life and work in the Middle East.
Working for an American company, my role is; the delivery of the spectator bus services for the Al Bayt stadium. This stadium is the most northern stadium and hosts many key matches including the opening game; England v USA, a quarter final and semi-final game.
The stadium will deliver the largest spectator bus operations of all the venues. The stadium is unique in design, inspired by the Bayt al sha’ar tent of the nomadic people who have lived in and around Qatar’s deserts for millennia. I will also be working on the World Cup final that will be played at Lusail Stadium on the 18th December 2022.
Whilst living in Doha city centre during my first month and then moving to Al Sakhama it has been great to see the excitement building within Qatar. With all the hype of the World Cup and football in the air, it made me think; as to whether there could be any Wolves supporters living in Qatar? With Wolverhampton being some 4,263 miles away, I thought the chances were slim.
But with the Premier League being the most televised sport and having a worldwide audience, it was possible that some of Qatar’s 3.5 million residents could look forward to watching the likes of Raul Jimenez, Ruben Neves and Jose Sa in action. A quick google search led me to the Wolves Official website where Qatar Wolves was listed as an official supporter’s club. Its chairman is Laky Chhina and I was keen to meet up with Laky to find out more about the Qatar Wolves.
After tracking down Laky via Linkedin, we agreed to meet up in the West Bay area of Doha for a curry and a beer, it was going to be just like an evening out in Wolverhampton! Born in New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, Laky grew up in Wednesfield and with his dad being a Wolves supporter, Laky was always going to end up following the Wolves. Laky started regularly attending Wolves in the early 1990s when he was living in Stourbridge and saw the Bully years at Molineux. Laky’s family moved to Stourbridge, where his parents ran a newsagents, from which they sold the Black Country Bugle! Laky moved to Qatar in 2012 and despite the distance from Wolverhampton, he goes to about five games a season and most impressively still holds a season ticket in the North Bank! He founded Qatar Wolves Supporters Club to bring fans in the area together, and Qatar Wolves had 22 members, now 23 with me becoming the latest to join. Qatar
Laky once lived in Stourbridge and his parents sold the Bugle from their shop
Wolves supporters are made up of ex-pats who regularly meet at The Curry House at the Intercontinental Hotel in Doha to watch Wolves games.
Laky’s favourite Wolves player, like most supporters of his generation, is Steve Bull, whose goalscoring exploits entertained the Molineux faithful through the late ’80s and throughout the 1990s. His favorite current player is Wolves and Portugal midfield master Joao Moutinho.
Talking to Laky about the World Cup and what benefits he felt it would bring to Qatar, he told me that, “Since Qatar were awarded the World Cup it has given the country 12 years to develop and provide the infrastructure needed to host a major sporting competition. This has seen a metro system and massive improvement to the road network be completed. These improvements will provide a platform for the future and raise the profile of the Middle East”.
Laky will be making the most of having a World Cup on his doorstep and has tickets for all the England group games, and tickets all the way to and including the World Cup final!