A trophy cup that had disappeared some time ago leaving behind a bunch of red-faced club administrators mysteriously found its way back on a junk table of items for sale at Petromin Souk in South Jeddah. The Saudi-Egyptian Super Cup that went missing from the trophy room of Jeddah's Al-Ittihad football club was discovered lying innocuously on a table when Ahmad Al-Zahrani (an antiques collector) was rummaging through collectables at the market. He brought the cup believing it to be of some value. His suspicions were confirmed when after taking it home and cleaning and polishing it, he discovered some engravings with the name of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Fahd, dated 2001. Al-Zahrani took the cup to a well-known sports shop, where a professional confirmed his suspicions that the cup was indeed original. When news broke out, the former president of Al-Ittihad Club, Ahmad Masoud said that the club had won the Super cup in a Saudi-Egyptian tournament against Egypt's Al-Ahli club in Cairo in 2001while he was in charge. Masoud confirmed the identity of the cup by providing a group photo of the cup taken with the Board of Directors. He said that he would negotiate with Al-Zahrani to return the Super Cup back to the club as that is its proper place; and this time around club officials will ensure its security. Adnan Gastaniah, former General Supervisor in the Media and Public Relations Center said that other trophies were also stolen along with the Super Cup. At the time, the former president of the honorary board, Prince Khalid Bin Fahd, submitted a formal complain to the General Presidency for Youth Welfare (GPYW) and the respective authorities after being informed of the disappearance. A committee was formed by the then president of the club Ibrahim Olwan to itemize the missing items as reported to the GPYW. “After that I was summoned along with some of the members of the Board of Directors, some of the team players, and the former president of the club- Mansour Balawi -to discuss the gravity of this issue. The investigations were completed but no of the missing items had been found until this moment.” Maybe the Souk warrants a second visit, wisecracked an irate fan.
