Adel Mohsen, a 56-year-old Yemeni football enthusiast and tactical analyst living in the eastern city of Mukalla. Uses the FIFA World Cup as a chronological anchor to navigate his country’s history of conflict and economic decline. His experiences during the 2026 tournament reflect the worsening realities of Yemen’s protracted humanitarian crisis. Hampered by a broken backup battery he cannot afford to replace, severe fuel shortages affecting his mobility, and regular electricity outages. Mohsen is forced to watch matches on a giant public screen in a hot, crowded local stadium rather than at home or streaming them on his phone.
His lifetime connection to the sport dates back to 1982 when television first arrived in South Yemen. A period he recalls as filled with familial warmth despite watching matches on a one-day delay via taped broadcasts. Since that first experience, every subsequent World Cup has coincided with major shifts in Yemeni history. The 1986 tournament in Mexico occurred just months after deadly socialist factional infighting in Aden.
In 1990, the year of Yemeni unification, Mohsen was an amateur player replicating Italian World Cup tactics on local pitches. By 1994, the tournament in the United States took place amid a brutal civil war, marking what Mohsen describes as a painful period where fear and constant power cuts. Caused him to miss the majority of the games. While a period of relative stability followed, allowing him to enjoy the tournaments between 1998 and 2010, the 2014 tournament in Brazil marked Yemen’s descent back into chaos with the rise of al-Qaeda and Houthi rebel expansions.
In conclusion, Mohsen’s decades-long journey illustrates that for ordinary citizens trapped in geopolitical crises, sports are not a trivial luxury but a vital psychological lifeline. Despite facing immense economic pressures, intense heat, and skepticism from others. His determination to watch the World Cup represents a powerful pursuit of joy and a brief, necessary escape from the daily hardships of war.
Reference
Saeed Al Batati. (2026, June 19). For one Yemeni, World Cup serves as a marker of war and peace. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2026/6/19/for-one-yemeni-world-cup-serves-as-a-marker-of-war-and-peace