Salisbury FC’s Kuwait visit puts its growing overseas ties in focus

Salisbury FC has travelled to Kuwait for a five-day visit that includes a friendly against Al Qadsia on Wednesday, 30 September. For the sixth-tier English club, the trip is a chance to build on its Kuwaiti sponsorship and youth football activities. Owner Ali Alhamad says Salisbury is better known there than many Premier League teams, although no comparative audience data has been offered to establish that claim.

The visit runs from 27 September to 1 October, according to Salisbury’s announcement. It falls between a match against Folkestone Invicta and Saturday’s FA Cup third qualifying-round tie at home to Dulwich Hamlet. The club says it has written permission to travel from both the English and Kuwaiti football associations. The friendly had yet to be played when BBC Sport reported from the visit on 29 September.

A club with a Kuwaiti connection

Alhamad, a Kuwaiti businessman, bought Salisbury in 2025, BBC Sport reported. He told Sky Sports that bringing the non-League club to his home country had been an ambition since the takeover. The current visit gives players a match abroad while extending a relationship the club has already pursued through sponsors, social media and football activities in Kuwait.

Four of Salisbury’s sponsors are Kuwaiti businesses, according to BBC Sport. The broadcaster also reported that the club’s official Arabic-language Instagram account had more than 14,000 followers, slightly fewer than its English account. Those are concrete signs of a commercial connection and an online audience. The figures do not show where followers live or how Salisbury’s recognition compares with that of other clubs.

Football beyond the friendly

The Kuwait programme extends beyond a match. BBC Sport reported plans for visits to schools and universities, local meals and a question-and-answer session about how an English club operates. Sky Sports also described a planned academy opening. These activities put Salisbury’s players and staff in contact with local audiences, though the reporting does not establish how many people will take part.

Sky Sports reported that Alhamad said 450 players expressed interest in summer open trials in Kuwait. Salisbury’s manager and coaches selected three prospects for an expenses-paid, 10-day training visit with the first team in England, according to his account. Alhamad saw the response as evidence of demand for English football and said the friendly could raise Salisbury’s profile. Those are his conclusions from the trial, rather than independent measures of the club’s wider popularity.

BBC Sport also reported that the club had run a summer camp in Kuwait. Taken with the trial and planned academy, it shows that the relationship involves youth football as well as the first-team fixture. The available accounts do not yet show how much participation those activities will attract over time or whether they will produce players for Salisbury.

The match and the money

Salisbury is due to face Kuwaiti Premier League side Al Qadsia at Mohammad Al-Hamad Stadium. Salisbury’s announcement describes its opponent as the winner of 58 domestic titles; Sky Sports separately reported that Al Qadsia had won the Kuwaiti league 17 times and said the stadium holds 22,000 spectators. The figures describe different measures of the host club’s record, rather than the result of this friendly.

Salisbury calls the visit its biggest commercial opportunity to date. The club says all ticket sales and commercial profits from it will go to Salisbury. Those are its stated arrangements, not a reported financial result: the supplied accounts establish neither ticket revenue nor a final profit. The club says it will post updates during the trip.

Player Luke Russe told BBC Sport the squad welcomed the chance to play in a different setting and experience another culture. He said the players wanted to win, while also seeing value in the wider trip. The schedule leaves a quick return to English competition: Salisbury is due back before its FA Cup qualifying tie against Dulwich Hamlet on Saturday.

The immediate tests are the Al Qadsia match and the cup tie that follows it. As of 29 September, the friendly’s result and the trip’s financial return were still unknown. The reported sponsors, social audience and football programmes explain why Salisbury has a visible connection to Kuwait; whether it outranks Premier League clubs in local recognition remains an untested claim by its owner.