Belgian side Eupen will face Qatar in a pre World Cup friendly in Marbella, Spain. Eupen will field a side made up of players from the U21 team and players from the professional squad who will not play in the upcoming league matches again Cercle Brugge and OH Leuven.
Eupen are owned by Qatari based Aspire Zone Foundation, who took control of the side in June 2012. Currently players such as Konan N’Dri, Isaac Nuhu and Abdul Nurudeen came from the Aspire Future Dreams club based in Senegal. Eupen’s Qatar relationship has also seen players from Paris-Saint Germain move to the club, such as Teddy Alloh in the summer. Alloh had been linked with a move to Ajaccio before he joined Eupen, where he had been on loan for the 2021/22 season.
Bernd Stork’s side currently sit in 16th place in the league with nine points. They have only won one of their last five matches, including the previous weekends 4-0 defeat at home to Gent. After the game, Gent coach Hein Vanhaezebrouck was full of praise for South Korean midfielder Hyun-seok Hong, who scored twice.