News Center

UAE League Cup: Competition kicks off

The competitive football season in the UAE gets underway in earnest on Tuesday and Wednesday as the UAE League Cup kicks off, giving the country’s professional teams their first test after a tough pre-season. Football fans were treated to a preview of the season to come with Friday’s Arabian Gulf Super Cup game between Al Ahli and Al Ain, but the midweek UAE League Cup matches will see more clubs return to action.

The first ball to be kicked in the 2013/14 UAE League Cup will be at 5:50pm on Tuesday at the Sharjah Stadium; a rearranged venue for Al Shaab v Al Jazira, as the hosts’ Khaled bin Mohamed Stadium is still undergoing construction and maintenance work. Al Jazira will be missing UAE national team players Ali Mabkhout, Khamis Esmail and Ali Khaseif for the Group A match as they are currently in Saudi Arabia for a friendly tournament, and new summer signing Abdelaziz Barrada is also on international duty with Morocco.

At 8:30pm on Tuesday, Al Wahda will host Dubai at the Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi in the second Group A match of the night. Both teams spent their pre-season training camps in Germany and will be hoping to get off to a good start following their return to warmer climbs. The match will see two new coaches make their touchline debuts in the UAE, with Karel Jarolim taking the reigns at Al Wahda and Martin Rueda at Dubai. Al Wahda will be without UAE national team trio Saeed Al Kathiri, Mohammed Al Shehhi and Mubarak Al Mansouri for the match.

Tuesday’s other 8:30pm kick-off comes in the form of a Dubai derby between Al Shabab and Al Wasl at the Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium; the first Group B match of the UAE League Cup. It will be Laurent Banide’s first game in charge of Al Wasl since making the switch from Al Dhafra, and he will face one of the most settled coaches in Marcos Paqueta. Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Paqueta confirmed that winning the UAE League Cup is on Al Shabab’s list of targets for the season, but they will have to get their campaign underway without Haydarov Azizbek and Hassan Ibrahim, who are away on international duty.

On Wednesday evening, Al Dhafra will be the first team to host the newly-crowned Arabian Gulf Super Cup champions Al Ahli as they meet in Group B at 6pm. The match will be Dr. Abdullah Misfer’s first at the helm of Al Dhafra following his summer switch from Dibba Al Fujairah, and his team will come up against a different-look Al Ahli side from the one seen on Friday as seven UAE players departed for international duty immediately after the Arabian Gulf Super Cup: Majed Naser, Saad Surour, Majed Hassan, Ahmad Khalil, Ismaeel Al Hammadi, Azooz Haikal and Azooz Sanqour.

At 8:30pm Al Nasr will start their new season under head coach Ivan Jovanovic by taking on current Cup holders Ajman at the Al Maktoum Stadium in Dubai. Al Nasr have recruited three new players from overseas this summer, only retaining captain Leo Lima from last season’s foreign contingent, whilst Emirati midfielder Habib Al Fardan will be absent due to international duty. Ajman, who recently returned from a pre-season training camp in Turkey, will begin defending their title in Group B.

Concluding the first round of UAE League Cup matches, Bani Yas host League champions Al Ain at the Bani Yas Stadium in Abu Dhabi at 8:30pm. Both teams have supplied players to the UAE national team, so Jorge da Silva’s Bani Yas will be missing Amer Abdulrahman, Haboush Saleh and Mohammed Fawzi, whilst Al Ain will be without Mohanad Salem, Mohammed Ahmed, Khalid Essa, Ismael Ahmed and Omar Abdulrahman as Jorge Fossati’s men look to bounce back from their penalty shoot-out defeat on Friday.