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UAE Pro-League Clubs completed signings with professional players and new technical bodies including reputed stars

 

All 12 UAE Football Pro-League clubs have completed their preparations for the upcoming season competitions, which had already started with the Super Cup match held last Saturday at Al Shahama Stadium in Bani Yas Club, where the title was captured by Al Wahda Football Team for the first time after beating Al Jazira, who won the double (league and cup) last season, 7-6 on penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw. The competitions of the 2011-2012 season are due to commence with Etisalat Cup in its first week on Thursday and Friday, September 15th and 16th.


Seven teams among the 12 Pro-League clubs have dismissed their coaches who led their Senior Squads in the last season and replaced them with new coaches: Al Jazira (Frank Verkotern), Al Ain (Olaroiu Cozmin), Al Wasl (Diego Maradona), Bani Yas (Jorvan Vieira), Sharjah (Carlos Azenha, Abdulaziz Al Anbary), Dubai (Barbers Umberto), Al Ahli (Ivan Hasek) while five clubs have retained  their former coaches namely: Walter Zinger (Al Nasr), Joseph Hecksberger (Al Wahda), Bonamego (Al Shabab), Ghazi Algaraeri  (Emirates), Abdul Wahab Abdul Qadir (Ajman).
Other clubs like Al Jazira, Al Nasr, Al Wahda and Al Shabab, have retained their professional players and added a fourth after the Professional League Committee have decided to apply 3+1 rule allowing each club to add one more player from Asia to join the other three pros and all four players are allowed to be on the pitch at one time, starting from this season.
 There are some clubs who replaced all their foreign players and contracted with new professional expatriates, such as Al Ahli, Al Ain and Ajman while some other clubs have signed only one or two pros, such as Al Wasl, Bani Yas, Sharjah, Emirates and Dubai.
With regard to the warm-up training camps, some of the clubs were satisfied with local preparations, without traveling abroad, especially that the preparation period was coincided with the holy month of Ramadan in August.  Only Seven clubs have organized external camps: Al Ahli (Austria, Czech Republic, Australia), Al Ain (Austria, Italy, Qatar), Emirates (still in Tunisia), Al Nasr (Austria), Sharjah (Germany), Ajman (Turkey), while Bani Yas are expected to organize their warm-up camp in Spain in the last week of this month.

Al Jazira

 Winners of the double champions last season (League and the President's Cup) for the first time in their history, which extends to the sixties of the last century. The team's former Brazilian coach Abel Braga, who led them to three championships, preferred to return back home, and he was replaced with Frank Verkotern from Belgium. The team did not organize an outside, but only satisfied with a short camp held in Qatar.
Al Jazira organized last month a friendly tournament with the participation of champions Alittihad from Syrian, Saudi Arabia Al Ahli and Al Nahdha of Oman, and finished in the second position. The team have retained their same foreign players of the last season, they are: Barry and Oliveira (Brazil) and Delgado (Argentina)  and signed Australian Neill Lucas as an Asian player.


Bani Yas:


Bani Yas finished runner up in the Etisalat Pro-League last season and their contract with the top scorer for France and Italian Juventus former striker Trezeguet, is considered a strong addition to their offensive line, which includes Senegalian Sengahoor leading top scorer of the League Competition in the last season, in addition to the midfielders Fawzi Basheir from Oman, Amer Abdul Rahman, Mohammad Fawzi, Haboosh Saleh and Sultan Al Ghaferi. The team are led by Brazilian coach Jovan Vieira who was coaching Kalba in the previous season. They are planning to hold an external camp in Spain in the last week of this month. The club had organized a friendly tournament at their home ground and their team came in third place on goal difference to Al Ittihad of  Saudi Arabia and Al Sfax  from Tunisia.
 

Al Nasr
 
The third place was the best achieved by this club in the Champions League during the last ten years as they won the League title in  the 1985-86 season. The third place has qualified them to play in the Asian Champions League in 2012. Hence, they renewed the contract of their Italian coach Walter Zenga to lead them in the upcoming season to a better spot than the third place. The team did not win the League Championship in the last 25 years. They contracted Australian Mark Bresciano, an Asian player, and renewed the contracts of: Guinea's Ismail Bangoura, Ecuadorian Carlos Tennerio and Brazilian Leo Lima. They held a camp in Austria, and played many games with local teams after returning back home. 
  
Al Shabab
 
They came fourth in the League Competition in the last season, although they were looking for a better place according to their lovely performances at the beginning of the second round. Al Shabab have won Etisalat Cup when they beat Al Ain 3-2 in front a big mass of spectators. The Administration has renewed contracts with Brazilian coach Bonamego, along with: Julio Cesar, Ciao (Brazil), Villanueva (Chile), and added the Uzbek Asian player Aziz Haydarov. They held a short camp in Ras Al Khaimah.



 
Al Wahda
 
 
They have won the Super Cup for the first time before a couple of days after beating Al Jazira in the opening match of the season. They will start their campaign in the Etisalat Cup tomorrow against Al Ain in which they reached the semi-finals in the last season. The Club's management did not change the Austrian coach Josef Hecksberger although the team came fifth in the previous league competition and asked him to continue for another season to win the Super Cup in the beginning of the season. They renewed contracts with their three Brazilians: Piano, Magraow and Hugo and are still looking for the fourth Asian pro. Al Wahda have organized a local warm up camp and played a number of friendly games with local and GCC visiting teams.    

Al Wasl
 
Al Wasl have achieved big success and its name is still being mentioned in the major news agencies and newspapers around the world after signing a contract with Argentinean legend Diego Maradona to coach their Senior Team.  Maradona preferred to prepare the team locally with all the hope to restore the golden throne in the eighties and nineties. They changed all former three foreign players except Omani defender Mohammad al-Shaiba, and signed new contracts with: Edson Butchi from Chile, Juan Olivera of Uruguay and Mariano Donda of Argentina.

Sharjah

The team maintained the seventh place in the Etisalat Pro- League Competition in the last season, which does not coincide with the history of the team who have a record of five league championships and eight cup titles. The team are endeavoring to better their image in the new season, and were unlucky with their new Portuguese coach Carlos Azenha who began the stage of preparations with the team in August, but he left to his country due to his wife's illness but did not come back. Abdulaziz Al Anbary, the team's former retired player was appointed as a caretaker coach. The team include four foreign players: Brazilian Marcelo, the team's top scorer in the last season along with his two compatriots Vandenho and Adenho and Eman Mubaali from Iran as an Asian player who played for Al Shabab, Al Nasr and Al Wasl in recent seasons. The team have held a training camp in Germany, and played many friendly matches after returning back home.


Al Ahli

Al Ahli Club has signed four new professionals playing in the UAE league for the first time, as well as having back their former Czech coach Ivan Hasek, who had led them to win the first professional league championship in the 2008-2009 season. They held three training camps for almost six weeks in Austria, Czech Republic and finally Australia. Al Ahli who finished in the eighth position in the last League Championship, have signed contracts with Brazilians Jaja and Graffiti along with Jimenez from  Chile and  Yousuf Mohammad from Lebanon as an Asian player.
 
Dubai:

The team had fought hard last season to stay in the professional league after achieving best results in the second round of the competition which helped them to secure a berth for the second successive season. They sacked their Brazilian coach Joseph de Santos, who led them last season and signed a deal with Swiss coach Umberto Barbers. The team did not hold an external camp, but continued their preparations at home. They retained their ex-striker Abu Bakr Kamara from Guinea and brought along his compatriot Simon Fondauno who was playing before for Kalba as well as signing with the Moroccan striker Nabil Al Daoudi former Emirates striker and Fawzi Ayesh from Bahrain.
 
Al Ain

The team have faced big problems in the last season and they were close to relegate to the First Division had they not played brilliantly and won a number of points that helped them to stay in the Etisalat Pro League. The club's administration made quick endeavors to support the team with a new technical body along with a number of foreign and local players. They signed a contract with Romanian coach Olaroiu Cuzmin to lead the team, besides four foreign players at high technical standards: Yasser Al-Qahtani from Saudi Arabia and Roman Radoi, both were playing for Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, along with Argentine Nacho Skoko and former English Sunderland team's striker Asamoah Gyan from Ghana. Al Ain had organized warm-up camps in Austria, Italy and Qatar and hosted a friendly International tournament with the participation of Al Shabab of Saudi Arabia who were crowned champions, Al Riffa from Bahrain and Al Suwaiq of Oman along with the hosts Al Ain who finished as runner up.

Ajman

Ajman played in the Etisalat Pro League before two seasons, relegated to the First Division and they are back this season, but more stronger. They were crowned champions of the First Division League and regained a berth in the Etisalat Pro League. They also regained their former Iraqi coach Abdul Wahab Abdul Qadir, who led them back to the Professional League, but they made changes in their foreign players' signings ,after contracting  with three new pros.: Morocco's Karim Karkar, who played for Emirates Club in the past two seasons, Ibrahima Toure of Ivory Coast and Olivier from Senegal. The club is still looking for a fourth Asian player. The team have organized a training camp last July in Turkey.

Emirates

Both Emirates and Ajman Football teams were relegated to the First Division League in the same season, and they have returned together to the Professional League. Emirates are currently organizing a training camp in Tunisia which will come to an end on Sept. 25th under the guidance of their Tunisian coach Ghazi Algaraeri who led them to the Etisalat Pro League to assure that the team should be with the big teams compared to the performance they players had demonstrated in the clubs Asian Champions League this year. The club has signed contracts with new players to lead the team in the new season: Nouri Bezman of Iran, Hassan Keita from Ghana, Mohsin Metwally and Jawad Adoosh from Morocco.