Conflict has long marred Yemen’s participation in the global sporting industry.

A ‘heartbreaking’ moment showing players from the Yemen national team football team exchanging sports gear during a game at this year’s Arabian Gulf Cup has sparked conversations online.

Yemen faced-off against Saudi Arabia on Friday, in a game that ended in a 2-0 win for the latter in Iraq. However, when a substitution was made, the two were seen exchanging a shin guard in what was described as one of the most upsetting scenes of the tournament.

Social media users poured their frustration online as the scene sparked a wave of emotions, with many pointing out the lack of humanity that follows the Yemeni crisis.

“By God, we know about your difficult circumstances and your continuous suffering. The Muslims have failed you, but God is with you […] May God protect you, people of Yemen,” said one user on Twitter.

A World Cup 2022 commentator and producer at beIN SPORTS and Alkass sports channel wrote that a far as he was aware, “the players exchanged the shin guards because the one on the pitch had large ones, and the one outside had small ones, so they were asked to replace them with one another.”

However, social media users pointed out that footballers should have their own personalised football kits. “And why wasn’t it available to each player based on his own size?,” they asked.

Addressing the dire political conditions in Yemen, one such user said: “The weakness of the state’s policy has had a negative impact on sports.”

The tournament comes as Yemen continues to face dire circumstances as a result of a deadly conflict between the Saudi-backed government and the rebel Houthi movement. While its sporting sector has been hit, the United Nations has described the situation in Yemen as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The Yemeni national team, yet to win a single Gulf Cup, has not been in action since falling to a 2-0 defeat to Mongolia in an Asian Cup qualifier in June of 2022.

The team’s lack of resources came into question just a day ahead of the tournament when the national team’s coach compared his players to Tuk-tuks and the Saudis to Mercedes.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday evening, Miroslav Soukup voiced that the country’s current economic and political situation will hinder the team’s ability to perform exceptionally.

“Don’t just compare names. Other teams have better financial capabilities, regular leagues, and stronger preparation programmes,” the Czech said.

“How does a tuk-tuk compare to a Mercedes?” Soukup said in reference to the match against Saudi Arabia.

In what was widely seen as ‘breaking the morale’, the Czech coach began the conference by stating that he had low expectations from his squad, promising not to express any anticipations.

Bloody sports industry

Conflict has long marred Yemen’s participation in the global sporting industry.

The national team was forced to exit the war-torn country by boat to attend a World Cup qualifying match against North Korea in Qatar in 2015.

Players boarded a boat for Djibouti on June 4 at the height of the conflict in 2015 when Saudi Arabia launched almost daily airstrikes to grapple for control of the temporary capital Aden as Houthi rebels made headway.

The photos were shared at the time by Yemen’s Sports Minister Rafat Ali Al-Akhali online, with team coach, Amin Al-Sanini, confirming the 13-hour journey was the only way out for the players.

The team left Djibouti for Doha, where they met with Czech Republic coach Soukup and prepared for the match against North Korea on 11 June 2015.

At the time, Sanaa’s international airport was closed and severely damaged, while fighting in Aden forced its facility to also close down.

“The league in Yemen has stopped and nobody’s playing any official games,” Soukup told Al Jazeera in Doha at the time

“Nobody can train either because many stadiums are destroyed. The players are forced to stay at home and wait for the training camps.”

Meanwhile, coach Alsanini said the travel “was so difficult”.

“Everything affected us so badly,” he added. “But when I see the players on the field, it shows how much they want to play. We didn’t win the games but the performance was good for us”.

Responding to the incident in Iraq this week, one Twitter user shared a picture purportedly showing a gift package sent by a Basra-based sports gear shop