Championship Director Michel Salgado and his team of La Liga scouts were so impressed with the talent on view at the duFC this season in Abu Dhabi, they decided to expand the selection of top talents to a record 52 players – 32 in the U16 category and 20 in the U14 category.
Selected players will be invited to a final training clinic in Dubai in March before the unveiling of final talents in the U16 & U14 categories who will join the du La Liga High Performance Centre in April.
Talents in the U16 category will travel to Spain in August for a three-week training clinic and competitive matches with La Liga’s strongest youth clubs.
Commenting on the level of skills observed in Abu Dhabi, the Real Madrid legend Salgado said: “The players were motivated, focused and gave it their all, playing a superb level of football recognising that this is a unique platform where they have the chance to get discovered.”
“We are very impressed with the talents we have seen here and we have a difficult task ahead of us to make the final selection from this season’s duFC.”
Selected players
Boys U16
Defenders: Connor Cowan, Ethan Jacob Collings, Mohamad Adel, Raed Alalaneh, Sergio Otero, Thomas Craig
Midfielders: Abdulrahman Salah, Ahmed Khaleel, Biar Maluth, Joshua Reuben Hendricks, Mohamed Rabia, Mohammed Amjad, Mohammed Haytham, Mohammed Rami Basem Chakra, Salem Mohammad, Sebastian Allsop
Strikers: Abdulla Alhashemi, Ameen Yaid, Anas Ben Khial, Carl Masrajian, Dillon Mensah, Eisa Al Qubaisi, Faisal Hamad, Hamad Hilal, Mohammed Eyad, Mohammed Nadeem, Mohammed Sameer, Mouad Muhammad, Moustafa Mohamed, Omar Taha, Saeed Almaqtri, Timi Esan
Boys U14
Goalkeepers: Karim Moamen, Zayed Abdulla
Defenders: Omar Azlan, Amr Bssem
Midfielders: Abdelrahman Taher, Anis Mahdi, Christian Perry, Khaled Amarah, Mohamed Sabri, Sarya Nouh, Waleed Bassam
Strikers: Ahmad Nashat, Akram Kabbani, Ashraf Zaheyr, Khaled El Mans, Mahmood Taimoom, Obaid Mohammed, Said Omar, Yannis Petras, Zaid Hiawaisarkh