The “Abraham Agreement” football team is ready to face an international team next week

The ambassadors of the United Arab Emirates and the United States to Israel announced, Thursday, that the United Arab Emirates will host the Ibrahim Agreements Festival at Expo 2020 Dubai next week.

The event – which is supposed to be the first in a series to be hosted by Morocco, Bahrain and Israel over the next few months – will feature a football match between an Israeli, Emirati, Bahraini and Moroccan joint team and a team made up of international football stars. .

Israeli players Tal Ben Haim, Salem Touma and Maor Buzaglo will play in the “Abraham Cordes Classic Team”. Players from other Abraham Accord countries also play for their national teams.
The “Legends of the World” team will include Brazilians Kaka and Julio Cesar, Spaniards Carles Puyol and Michel Salgado, Argentina’s Javier Saviola, Nigeria’s Jay Jay Okocha, France’s Robert Pires, Bakary Sanga, Claude Makele and Dutchman Clarence Seedorf.

Players and VIPs will also enjoy a joint culinary event, where top chefs from Israel, Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates prepare a festive dinner.

The signing ceremony will be followed by the meal, where a “Joint Declaration on Culture and Sports for Peace” It will open the door to similar events in the other member states of the Abraham Accords.

The Dubai event was originally supposed to feature musicians from all four countries as well, but it became very difficult to hold it at that time with the participation of the performers’ agents. The Times of Israel has learned that there is still a musical event under the Abraham Agreement.

Application of Abraham’s agreements

In September 2020, Israel established formal diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, followed by Morocco and the normalization agreement with Sudan. In July 2021, Israel opened its embassy in Abu Dhabi.

Thomas Nides, the US ambassador to Israel, gathered diplomats from the Abraham Accords member states in Israel into three working groups. The United Arab Emirates focuses on culture and sports, Bahrain on technology, healthcare and economic development, while Moroccans strive to boost travel and tourism.

“As these benefits continue to grow, so do the connections between people.”Nedis said in a statement. “The historic Abraham Accord Festival at Expo 2020 Dubai is an opportunity to forge lasting connections between the athletes, restaurateurs, other actors and innovators who have created such vibrant communities in the UAE, Israel, Morocco and Bahrain.”

Sports, gastronomy, culture, and responses for peace

Since arriving in Israel in February 2021, UAE Ambassador Mohammed Al Khaja, a racing enthusiast, has focused on sports diplomacy as a way to bolster the growing ties between Israel and the Emirates.
“We are very ambitious here.”He told The Times of Israel in November. “It’s definitely an area where people can feel the connection and go from seeing something symbolic to something real people are experiencing.”

The Emirati ambassador adds: We believe we should always be optimistic and focus on areas of interest to redouble our efforts in terms of commonalities. This is the only way to have a lasting and warm peace.”he completed.

Khaja called the football match and dinner b.”Part of a larger effort where ongoing sporting, gastronomic and cultural events are forging strong people-to-people bonds among the signatories to the Abraham Agreements.”
The Emirati diplomat says so “Strong peace is based on strong relations between the citizens of the countries of the Abraham Agreements” And the“We want to see people come together to play, eat, form partnerships, make friendships and have fun together.said the same speaker.