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Al Ahli face Al Shabab tomorrow in the 26th GCC final match

For the first time in the history of the GCC Champions League and for nearly thirty years, that two UAE teams meet in the final match to win the 26th GCC Clubs Champions league and President's Cup, as AL Ahli and Al Shabab will face each other tomorrow Wednesday, October 25th at Rashid Stadium, kick off at 8pm in the first leg game before they play their second leg match on November 3rd at Maktoum Bin Rashid Stadium in Al Shabab Club.
The two teams are well prepared for the Gulf final, and the hosts aspire to win the first game with a comfortable margin to help them in the second leg towards making their dream of winning the first Gulf title come true. The team is led by Czech coach Ivan Hasek, who introduced major changes in the squad that defeated Emirates team with two straight goals scored by Jimenez in the Etisalat Pro-League before four days. His lineup includes: Yousuf Abdullah, Yousuf Mohammad, Khalid Mohammad, Mohammad Qasim, Saad Suroor, Abdulaziz Haikal, Tariq Ahmed, Amer Mubarak, Juma'a Sanghoor, Luis Jimenez, graffiti, Faisal Khalil and Ismail Al Hammadi. Ahmed Khalil has recovered from injury and is ready to participate in the game, and there are doubts about the participation of Brazilian Jaja due to the injury that  kept him out of the last game in the league.
On the other hand Al Shabab, who has won the GCC title 18 years ago in the tournament that was held in the Omani capital Muscat, are also well prepared for the match against their neighbors and traditional rivals Al Ahli and despite of their draw with Dubai 1-1 in the last game of the Etisalat league three days ago, but the team is at full readiness to win the Gulf championship for the second time Their Brazilian coach Paulo Bonamego depends on the four professionals: Duo Brazilians Julio Cesar and CIEL, Chilean Villanueva and Uzbek Haydarov, in addition to: Ismail Rabie, Essam Dhahi, Walid Abbas, Essa Mohammad, Mohammad Ahmed, Sami Anbar, Hamdan Qasim, Abdullah Darweesh, Adel Abdullah , Essa Obaid, Dawood Ali and Suroor Salem.

How the two teams qualified?

Al Shabab played in Group "A" beating Al Riffa of Bahrain 1-0 and 2-0 in their home and away matches. They defeated Al Salmiyah of Kuwait 1-0 in Kuwait and lost at home with the same margin to top the group. They qualified to the semifinals following their 4-0 win over Zafar of Oman, then drew 2-2 with Al Arabi of Kuwait in Dubai but won 2-1 in the away game to reach the final.
Al Ahli played only two matches in Group "D" after Al Ahli of Bahrain withdrew earlier. Al Ahli defeated Al Arabi of Kuwait 1-0 in Dubai and 2-1 in Kuwait. They continued their successful march beating Al Dhafra 3-1, Kazma 1-0 and then drew 1-1 to qualify to the GCC final match for the first time in their history.