A group of England fans managed to get an invite to the house of a Qatari millionaire because he picked out that one of them was wearing a Premier League football shirt.
Of course, there must be thousands of Premier League shirts in Qatar at the minute, what with the FIFA World Cup taking place in the country, but this group of pals managed to get themselves noticed – and a free lunch – for a Wolverhampton Wanderers shirt.
Jassa Dehal and his mates were surprised to say the least when the businessman sent a car to get them from their hotel and bring them to his gaff the day after they met in a bar.
Advert
He’d been chatting to the man – known only as Omar - the day earlier at their hotel after he spotted the Wolves shirt.
The pair hit it off, chatted about football and exchanged numbers promising to meet up again.
The next day, a text arrived that said ‘there is a car waiting for you’.
Advert
So, he grabbed his mates and they all went off to a huge mansion for a special feast, which included a footy-themed fruit platter.
Then, they had a tour and a relaxing swim before watching Japan take on Germany.
That wasn’t a bad game by the way, with Japan claiming a shock 2-1 victory.
Jassa, a butcher from Wolverhampton, said he was ‘blown away’ by the kindness of his new friend, and said that the experience was ‘amazing’.
Advert
He said: "You cannot even dream of what happened to us. We were in the bar of our hotel and he came over and said he knew Wolves.
"He noticed my Wolves shirt and we started talking about football, Wolves, Raul Jimenez and he said he was a Manchester United fan.
"He was really knowledgeable and knew a lot about Wolves, he knew we'd sacked the manager.
Advert
"He was such a nice, hospitable man, he started buying our food and drinks and didn't allow us to pay, but wanted to make us feel welcome in his home country.
"So we sat with him, had great conversation about football and he then said we can come to his house tomorrow for lunch, and he took my number.”
He continued: "Next day I get a call from him saying his driver is waiting outside our hotel to take us to his place.
Advert
"It said, 'There is a car waiting for you'. We couldn't believe it. We were shocked, as we didn't expect that to happen at all.
"We went to his house which was a massive mansion. We then sat with him, had tea and biscuits and he showed us around the house.
"Then we all watched the Germany vs Japan match and we sat and ate with him in the dining room on a huge dining table.
"When going around the house he took us to the swimming pool area and he said we could go for a swim but we weren't dressed for it.
"It was just a surreal experience and it shows that the hospitality of the Qatari people is top class.
"We have experienced nothing but great hospitality and friendliness here in Qatar. The people in Qatar have been amazing. They are absolutely diamond people."
"They know they are getting a hard time in the media but we've had nothing but kindness from everyone."
The group said that they had no idea how wealthy the man they met in the bar was because he was ‘very modest’.
Jassa said: "We called him prince, but he said, 'Please don't call me that, I am one of you'."
They’ll be sticking around now for the three England group games, as well as Portugal – lots of Wolves players there – against Ghana yesterday.
Topics: UK News, World News, World Cup, Football, Sport
Tom Wood