Why did Al-Nasr go to the Club World Championship “by vote”?
Sports critic Muhammad Al-Dawish confirmed that the Al-Nasr team’s qualification to the 2000 World Club Championship was not by nomination, as is common, but rather the qualification came from the stadium, while he spoke about Al-Hilal, saying that its participation in the 2022 World Cup, as well as the next edition in 2025, was By nomination.
Al-Dawish explained, via the “Free Kick” program, that whoever denies the field and the vote is arrogant, and Al-Nasr did not go to the World Cup through nominations, but rather from the field, by winning the 1998 Asian Super Cup title.He added that Al-Nasr was chosen, instead of the Asian Super Cup champion in 1999, because the tournament was held in January, and in order for the participating team to have had a sufficient period of preparation to be present in the global tournament.
He added, “I asked Prince Nawaf bin Mohammed, who was in the Asian Confederation, if Al-Nasr had lost the Asian Super Cup at that time, would he have played in the World Club Championship? His response was categorically negative, and Al-Nasr also would not have gone to the tournament, had it been postponed from its scheduled date.” In January, this confirms that Al-Nasr qualified from the stadium. As for the vote, it came because the Japanese objected to the AFC’s decision and insisted on their candidate qualifying, and the late Prince Faisal bin Faisal stood for them. Fahd with full force, and threatened to resort to FIFA, so that a vote could be held, which ended with Al-Nasr winning with 6 votes, against a single vote for the Japanese representative.”
On the other hand, Al-Dawish said that Al-Hilal was nominated for two world championships, the first in the Morocco 2022 edition, in which Al-Hilal achieved runner-up, citing the words of the Asian Confederation itself, which confirmed Al-Hilal’s “nomination” as the 2021 AFC Champions League title holder, after the postponement of the Asian Championship in The next edition, to a date that comes after the World Cup, and Al-Dawish added that Al-Hilal will qualify for the 2025 World Cup, which will witness the participation of 32 teams for the first time, as the Asian champion. 2021, is also a nomination.
Al-Nasr played in the 2000 Club World Championship, which witnessed the participation of 8 teams, divided into two groups, with the two leaders qualifying for the final match, while the two runners-up played the match for third place, noting that Al-Nasr played in the first group, accompanied by the Brazilian clubs Corinthians, the Spanish Real Madrid, Raja of Morocco, and Fares Najd ended their campaign in third place.