New stadium a ray of hope for Israel's Arabs
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-11-10 11:26

OFFICIAL OPENING

Sunday's game against Maccabi Tel Aviv was supposed to celebrate the official opening of the ground but this has been postponed until the Qataris are also able to attend.

United States ally Qatar hosted the U.S. command centre of the 2003 Iraq war. It has no diplomatic relations with Israel but it has angered other Arab states by maintaining low-level ties with the Jewish state. Israel has a commercial attache in Qatar.

Last month in Doha, Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrehman Al Thani, head of the Qatar National Olympic Committee (QNOC), signed the deal with an Israeli delegation headed by Israeli Arab legislator Ahmed Tibi to fund the stadium.

A QNOC team visited the town of 25,000 earlier this year. The building was also being supervised by Qatari officials and the funds would be channelled through the Qatari representative in Palestinian-controlled Gaza, a QNOC official said.

Sakhnin survived the past two relegation battles without a proper home stadium. The municipality ran out of money while rebuilding it to conform with Premier League standards and they had to host opponents at other grounds.

The new stadium, which affords a spectacular view of the verdant Galilee hills in northern Israel, hosted its first game last month when Sakhnin played Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv. The match ended in a depressing fifth straight loss for the hosts.

Sakhnin appointed Michael Kadosh as their third coach in the space of a year only three matches into the current campaign and he soon warned that a lack of pre-season preparation and strike power would mean inevitable relegation.

This week Sakhnin signed Slovenian striker Darko Jukic from nearby Upper Nazareth. They are also looking to re-hire Brazilian striker Gabriel Lima who was instrumental in the club's cup success in 2004.