13 Jan 2019
Doha, 13 January 2019. Aspire Zone Foundation owned Belgian football club K.A.S Eupen held a press conference organized by Aspire Academy on Sunday 13 January at Aspire. Claude Makelele, Head Coach of K.A.S Eupen was in attendance and he was joined by Qatar Stars League and Al Duhail striker, Youssef Msakni who has just joined K.A.S Eupen on a six-month loan.
K.A.S Eupen have been in Qatar on their annual winter break training camp at Aspire Academy and in what has become a tradition, the local media was invited to the Press Conference. During the Press Conference it was revealed that arrangements for Aspire graduates, Homam Ahmed and goalkeeper, Salah Zakaria Hassan, who are also Qatar U-19 international players will train with K.A.S Eupen in preparation for the FIFA U-20 World Cup scheduled for May 2019 in Poland.
The former Real Madrid and Chelsea midfielder Claude Makelele has completed a year in charge of K.A.S Eupen and in his second trip for winter break training with his charges, the Frenchman summed up the training camp as “successful”. “In the pristine and fabulous Aspire Academy facilities we have been able to hold a high intensive camp where everyone worked hard, and we were able to look at different combinations and work on play we hope will carry us through the second half of the season. We are currently in 10th position on the league table, better than where we were last year this time, but our focus remains to stay in this top league and then see how far we can go in climbing up the log table. Makelele expressed his delight at the arrival of Tunisian international Yousef Msakni whom he described as a quality player who will bring goals and required competition to the team for places.
28 -year-old Tunisian striker Youssef Msakni who missed last year FIFA World Cup in Russia due to injury paid tribute to his club Al Duhail for the arrangement that sees him fulfill a long desire to play in Europe and promised to give his all while at K.A.S Eupen. “I am ready to make the most of this opportunity and play well enough to be called back into Tunisia national team for Africa Cup of Nations tournament scheduled for June 2019 in Egypt” said Msakni
The press conference was attended by Chief Advisor of International Football Affairs at Aspire Zone Foundation and KAS Eupen FC Board member Andreas Bleicher, KAS Eupen’s Director General Christoph Henkel, Director of Finance, Legal and Administration Thomas Herbert and Marketing and Merchandising Manager Andre Palm as well as staff and officials from the club.