Sports Minutes: Ayman Kassimi on how Ilhan Fandi 'convinced' him to join Singapore's Hougang United

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
Sports Minutes with Zia-ul Raushan on MoneyFM 89.3.

**Zia-ul Raushan** (0:05)
MoneyFM 89.3, it's time for Sports Minutes with me, Zia-ul Raushan. It's that time of the year with the Singapore Premier League transfer window in full flow, and the signings are coming thick and fast, both familiar faces and fresh new ones. To that end, Hougang United have been busy unveiling the acquisition of Ayman Kassimi, a Belgian winger who arrives with much promise, but will promise equal playtime and plaudits. We are about to find out, because in the hot seat is Ayman himself. Ayman, welcome to the show and welcome to Singapore. How are you doing?

**Ayman Kassimi** (0:36)
Thank you for having me first. I'm doing very well and I'm happy to be here.

**Zia-ul Raushan** (0:40)
Excited to have you with us Ayman, especially about 10 days only since you arrived in Singapore. We'll talk about the Singapore Premier League, I promise, but it is World Cup season. I have to talk to you about the World Cup, right? And you are Belgian after all. You must be pleased with how it's all playing out.

**Ayman Kassimi** (0:54)
For the moment, it's going good. I think the last game was a very exciting game. For sure about what happened behind the pitch.
But I think they answered perfectly on the pitch.

**Zia-ul Raushan** (1:07)
And I know beyond Belgium, you have a bit of a Moroccan persuasion as well. Tell me a bit about that.

**Ayman Kassimi** (1:12)
My parents are Moroccan. Actually, I'm Moroccan too.
And to be honest, I'm going for Morocco this World Cup.

**Zia-ul Raushan** (1:19)
I think it's a good position to be in, right? To have Belgian roots, to be Moroccan and have two teams in the quarterfinals, to plump for, right? Quite exciting for you.

**Ayman Kassimi** (1:27)
No, that's true. That's true. So if one team is going out, I still have the other team to go for.

**Zia-ul Raushan** (1:32)
Well, lucky you. I support England with all my heart and Singapore has not made it to the World Cup just yet, but maybe one day. Moving on, you talked about off-pitch matters, right? The Balagan incident and how that fired Belgium up. I just want to ask you about Roberto Martinez, who was formerly the Belgian coach. And I think he recently left his Portugal job as well. As a fan, what's your observation in terms of him wasting golden generations?

**Ayman Kassimi** (1:56)
I don't think it was like a golden generation for Portugal, because before this generation, I think they had won more cups. But I think it's a bit sad for the last World Cup of Ronaldo that's going out like that.
But I think their time will come for sure.

**Zia-ul Raushan** (2:15)
Interesting that you think that of Portugal. Let's continue the conversation about Singapore football. Speaking of new coaches, you have a new one in Akba Nawaz. Perhaps tell me, how did this move to Hougang United come about?

**Ayman Kassimi** (2:27)
Actually I was talking with Nas, my agent, and he came up with this idea of going to Hougang.
I got the opportunity of signing there, I got an offer. And I think my discussion with the club went very well with the coach.
And honestly I was surprised by the ideas he had, by the mentality, by the way he wants to play. So, I was excited by coming there. But for sure before doing that, I had a big friend, Ilhan Fandi, who I talked a lot to. And he was also surprised by that. And he pushed me to go and do it.

**Zia-ul Raushan** (3:08)
Agent Ilhan, he will come up again. But let's talk about your actual agent, Nas, who is with us in the studio. I'll talk about the club in a short while. But when it comes to transfers, right? There obviously is an intermediary. And in this case, it was Two Touch International. For the listeners, can you talk me to that process? When you say you talk to Nas, how does he then bring the idea of the club to you? Is it giving you a PowerPoint slide, getting on the phone, jumping on the call? How does it work?

**Ayman Kassimi** (3:32)
It's a lot of work, actually, because he does a lot behind the scenes. But he knew what I wanted, and he worked for it. And like, he knew I didn't want to hear about every maybe interest of club. So when it was concrete, he came to me, he said, like, listen, Ayman, you have this, what do you think about it?
And then we started looking at it, thinking about it, and making the right decision.