Arab Atlantans celebrate historic World Cup with record number of qualified Middle Eastern nations

Inside the Alif Institute, fans packed into the Arab cultural center in Embry Hills with the fervor of a stadium’s fan section as two World Cup heavyweights, Morocco and Brazil, faced off to a 1-1 draw.

“This place is for all Arabs,” Atlanta resident Tahar Mahi said. “But since this is a Moroccan game right now with Brazil. We’re all Moroccan.”

Moroccan flags were handed out. Almost everyone donned red and green, and some even sported Moroccan-flag cowboy hats, fusing southern and Arab culture. Mahi especially brought the energy with a darbuka. The Arabic drum provided a rhythmic soundtrack to every goal, save and momentous points in the match.

A record-number eight Arab teams qualified for this FIFA World Cup for the tournament hosted in North America. Along with Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan — a debutant — Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. Alif in Atlanta and other local organizations devised a watch party series to celebrate the “unprecedented” occasion.

Two Arab nations, Saudi Arabia (June 21) and Morocco (June 24), will play in Atlanta, but with soaring ticket prices unattainable for many, this series serves as an opportunity for many to watch in community.

“We wanted to host as many of the Arab teams as possible,” Alif executive director Mouna Abdelhamid said. “This is the first time you have so many Arab teams qualifying, so it’s a big deal.”

The institute has not hosted a function quite like this before. The cultural center focuses on movie screenings and the annual Atlanta Arab Festival, which is a multiday event open to anyone. While there were informal soccer gatherings in the past, these now include food vendors from local Middle Eastern restaurants and collaborations with other organizations, like Roswell Community Masjid and One Ummah Center.

The organizations couldn’t host each of the Arab nations’ games, but there are four official watch parties scheduled. It started on the first weekend of the tournament and continues throughout the group stage, later including an Uzbekistan match, a Central Asian Muslim-majority country. Next on the list is Saudi Arabia versus Spain, which will take place across the perimeter at Atlanta Stadium on June 21 at noon ET.

While essentially every non-Moroccan in attendance rooted for the Atlas Lions at the first event, it’s a little more complicated for the Saudi Arabia match. For starters, Spain’s 18-year-old star Lamine Yamal has Moroccan roots on his father’s side. Yamal also practices Islam and earlier condemned anti-Muslim chants by Spanish fans. Some youngsters will pull for Yamal over the Green Falcons, but others like Mahi will root for his fellow Arab squad.

Then there are those who won’t support Saudi Arabia because of the actions of its government, which has engaged in human rights violations in its country and around the region, like its military intervention in Yemen. Some don’t feel the nation represents either the religion of Islam or the Arab diaspora.

“I have heard from people who might sadly go for Spain versus Saudi, and that is really not a soccer decision,” Abdelhamid said. “It is more (about) Saudi’s policies in the world, and what they’ve been doing, and people are not very happy with it.”

The Arab world is far from a monolith. It spans many dialects, multiple religions and even different continents from Asia to North Africa. What is almost universal, though, is soccer.

Qatar hosted the previous World Cup in 2022. Morocco will co-host the 2030 tournament with Spain and Portugal. Looking even further down the road, the 2034 edition will be held in Saudi Arabia.