Salisbury FC are in Kuwait for a five-day trip that underlines the sixth-tier club’s unusual following in the Gulf state. The National League South side travelled after Saturday’s 2-0 home win against Folkestone Invicta at The Mac Stadium, where supporters chanted “Kuwait away ole, ole”. Within 24 hours the squad would be on its way to the Middle East, and player Luke Russe said the opportunity was one he and his team-mates could not turn down.
“Straight away we all said, ‘yeah, we’re all in,'” Russe said. “It’s a unique opportunity and as players, we are so thankful to everybody involved in making this trip happen. I’ve been involved in this level for a long time now and I’ve never had an experience like it.”
The trip is part of Salisbury’s continuing link with Kuwait through owner Ali Alhamad, whom the club describes as a Kuwaiti businessman and who purchased the club in 2025. It includes a match against Al Qadsia on Wednesday, one of Kuwait’s most successful teams and winners of more than 50 trophies, including a continental tournament in 2014, before the squad returns on Thursday to prepare for Saturday’s FA Cup third qualifying round against Dulwich Hamlet. The Mohammad Al-Hamad Stadium holds 22,000 spectators, more than five times the capacity of Salisbury’s The Mac.
Alhamad said the eagerness of the players shocked him, with all of the squad except Jaiden Bartolo, who was on international duty, agreeing to go within an hour. He believes the connection has made Salisbury a significant name in Kuwait. “I would even go further than saying that Salisbury in Kuwait is bigger than many of the Premier League teams in the UK,” he said. “So I am not exaggerating when I do say that it is a huge name in Kuwait but what’s more important than the size is we are contributing a lot to the local community here in Kuwait and to the children and the future of the football in Kuwait.”
The club’s presence in Kuwait is visible off the pitch. Four of Salisbury’s sponsors are from Kuwait, including the front-of-shirt sponsor, a company that created the country’s first Sharia-compliant digital bank, while the training kit represents a popular Acai company that can only be bought in Kuwait. Salisbury’s official Arabic Instagram account has more than 14,000 followers, only slightly fewer than their official English profile. When the squad arrived, they were greeted by a small group of fans, while school children interacted with them as if they were Premier League players.
For the players, the visit is also a cultural exchange. They will visit local restaurants, try local food and coffee, visit schools and universities, and hold a question and answer session for locals to understand how an English football club operates from Alhamad’s perspective. Russe said the experience would benefit a young squad. “We’d love to win the game,” he said. “But at the same time I think it’s more about the experience and about the club as a whole, going over there, living that way of life and experiencing the game. We’ve got a very young group, so for them to experience that and kind of experience cultures and differences is great.”
Alhamad also sees the trip as part of a broader commercial strategy. All ticket sales and advertisement money from the visit will go to Salisbury, and the club has set up a summer camp in Kuwait and run a trial session where the top three players trained with the first team during pre-season. “Football in England, especially in the non-league, is a brutal business,” he said. “So just throwing in money to the football club with the aim of getting promotion is fool’s gold, in my opinion. The right way to do it is to build it properly all the way from the bottom and if you just limit yourself to one market, which is the city or town that you are in, that is pretty limited.”
The owner added that people in Kuwait are avid Premier League watchers but non-league football remains largely unknown. “People are not properly educated in the fact that the non-league is actually a really high quality and that is also an indirect goal of mine with this match,” Alhamad said. “We’ll show you what we have and you never know, maybe the sixth tier of English football will beat the top tier on the biggest team in Kuwait. That’ll be some story.” Salisbury must then ensure their local roots remain strong, with the FA Cup tie against Dulwich Hamlet the first test on their return, and Alhamad said he has grown to love Salisbury and its people.