Fans of the Egyptian club became the beating heart of a tournament that ultimately ended in a heartbreak.

Outside Stadium 974 on Saturday evening, a group of masked men dressed in black with matching bucket hats were ready. With drums and scarves on the floor, they huddled around for the final briefing before time.

The discussion centred around the chants, coordination and role allocation among members of Ultras Ahlawy — the hardcore fans of Egypt’s Al Ahly club — to bring the noise.

Half an hour before the kick-off, everyone was behind the post that Al Ahly were going to attack in the first half in their FIFA Challenger’s Cup tie against Mexico’s Pachuca.

“I would give it my life and still it won’t be enough…”

They started chanting and around 30,000 Ahlawys followed.

The club’s legacy, Egypt’s glorious history, and Palestinian liberation were addressed in the chants that followed, in addition to occasional roars that spurred every time Al Ahly broke into the opposition box.

“We make it very hard for our opponents with the noise,” a member of the group told me on the condition of anonymity — a practice common among Ultras all around the globe. “We’ve travelled from Cairo for this, we’re not kidding when we chant – we give it all for Al Ahly.”

With a complex history behind them which includes a role in the toppling of a government and subsequently a massacre in Port Said where at least 72 people were killed, Al Ahly Ultras are now banned from attending their home matches and using away games like these to live in the shadows.

Those seminal incidents are now a part of Ultras Awlahy’s identity. “Never forget” a banner read, in the memory of those killed in allegedly, the plotted attack against them in Port Said. Their songs echo everything from normal life’s nuances to chants of liberation – filling life in a competition that had seemed almost lifeless thus far.

Al Ahly had booked their ticket to Doha after defeating Asian champions Al Ain 3-0 in Cairo, for a tournament that was announced months after they had won the African Champions League.

On Saturday, their fans brought the true tournament vibes to the newly hatched competition for the first time. Make no mistakes, the tournament will still attract scores especially since Real Madrid will be playing the finale in Lusail on December 18, but the opening matches of the tournament have felt muted.

When FIFA announced its revamped annual club competition under a new name, the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, in September, each fixture was designated a trophy with three games scheduled in Qatar to add the thrill.

It had a problem, though.

The teams that would ultimately make it to Qatar would have to play far from their arc. Some 51,602 were present at Cairo International Stadium as Al Ahly won, what FIFA termed the African-Asian-Pacific Cup. Al Ain, before the defeat, had toppled New Zealand’s Auckland City in front of a buzzing crowd of just under 14,000.

The Derby of the Americas, the first of three matches in Qatar, attracted slightly more than 12,000 as Botafogo and Pachuca went head to head. Mostly neutrals, the ambiance felt meek with the only noise in the first half coming from some 50 Botafogo supporters.

Not much was happening online as well, since the match was overshadowed by FIFA’s annual congress, which had announced the hosts for the 2030 and 2034 World Cup just a couple of hours prior to the kick-off.

It was, again, a group of Al Ahly fans who made their presence felt in a match that their loved team did not even take part at the Stadium 974.

“We were here because we did not get the tickets to the Al Ahly game,” Abdelrahman and Omar, two Al Ahly fans draping the Syrian liberation flag told Doha News after Pachuca convincingly defeated Botafogo 3-0 on Wednesday.

“We have tickets for the final in Lusail – hopefully Al Ahly can make it to the final.”

Despite having the second-highest number of appearances in the FIFA Club World Cup — now branded the Intercontinental Cup — the Red Devils are yet to reach a final.

On Saturday too, the vigour in the crowd did not end up translating into the performance on the pitch. It was not to be as despite 90 minutes of fierce contest and an added 30 minutes of tie-breaker, Al Ahly lost 6-5 to Pachuca, despite gaining an early two-goal advantage in the shootout.

In what could have been a historic night as well as the continuation of a lifeline for FIFA’s filler tournament, Al Ahly were out and so were their fans.

“Today was the easiest chance to win a final, and we still lost,” said Ahmed Aiedy, an Egyptian football pundit who was among the Ultras on the night, reacted after the game. “I swear to God, this is bad. Haram, wallahi!”

In a group of deflated Al Ahly supporters making their way to the Metro Station were the father-son duo of Ahmed and Qasim, both Egyptian expats in Doha.

“He was born an Al Ahly fan,” Ahmed, the father, said about his son, who has the same bucket hat as most Ultras present at the stadium.

Did the defeat hurt? I asked his son, Qasim. “It did a bit, but that is football. You cannot always won,” the five-year-old replied.

His father did not seem surprised by the mature response, as if Qasim was regular with those thoughts. “This is the passion that the final will miss now,” Ahmed said, lifting his son on his shoulders.