Sharjah24: Al Ain team will visit Al Ahly of Egypt on Tuesday, for an Arab clash at Cairo Stadium in the second round of the Club World Cup, organized by FIFA.
Al Ain will face Al Ahly at the Cairo International Stadium in this Arab showdown as part of the 2024 Club World Cup. Al Ahly opens its campaign in the tournament as the champion of the African Champions League, while Al Ain, the Asian Champions League champion, began its journey by defeating Auckland City from New Zealand 6-2 in the first round last September.
The winner of this match will advance to face the winner of the match between Pachuca from Mexico and the 2024 Copa Libertadores champion in Qatar next December. The winner of that matchup will then compete in the final against Real Madrid, the European champion, at Lusail Stadium in Qatar on December 18.
FIFA had previously announced that the winner of the Al Ahly vs. Al Ain match would receive a trophy called the "Africa-Asia-Pacific Cup," along with a cash prize of 2 million USD.
Al Ahly approaches the match with hopes of securing another international title and continuing its journey in the Club World Cup, after the team has won four bronze medals in the tournament in 2006, 2021, 2022, and 2024.
Al Ahly enters the match against Al Ain following a victory in the domestic Super Cup against its traditional rival, Zamalek, in Abu Dhabi. This win brought some calm after a tumultuous period following the loss of the African Super Cup title to Zamalek itself last month in Saudi Arabia.
On the other hand, Al Ain arrives in Cairo amid declining results for the Asian champion in recent times, having drawn its last match in the ADNOC Pro League against the bottom-placed Daba Al-Hosn 1-1, placing it sixth in the standings. Additionally, Al Ain ranks second to last in the Asian Champions League with only one point from three matches, drawing with Qatari club Al Sadd 1-1 and losing to Qatari club Al Gharafa 4-2 and Saudi club Al Hilal 5-4.
Argentinian Hernán Crespo stated, "We have a big match against Al Ahly to win a secondary international title, so we needed to arrive in Egypt fully prepared," referring to his decision to field a second-string team in the recent league match.
Al Ain hopes to continue its journey in the tournament with dreams of repeating the achievement it accomplished when it won the silver medal at the Club World Cup in the UAE in 2018.
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