With the various European leagues up and running for the new season, the UAE’s premier football league – the Arabian Gulf League – will get underway early next month, but not before the traditional curtain raiser.
The Super Cup pits the previous season’s league winners against the President’s Cup winners. It’s usually a well-contested affair, but this year had an added spice owing to a summer of managerial upheaval.
Al Ain – nicknamed The Boss – romped to their second league title in two years last May ahead of Dubai rivals Al Ahli, with Al Jazira from Abu Dhabi in third.
Ex-Sunderland striker Asamoah Gyan scored 30 goals – the first player to do so in a single season in the UAE – as they picked up 20 wins from 26 games.
The champions also have arguably the most promising young player to ever emerge from the UAE in Omar Abdulrahman. The 21-year-old midfielder has been attracting interest from all around Europe, with Arsenal a one-time potential destination.
The manager who brought them their two league championships was Romanian Cosmin Olaroiu, but this summer he made a controversial switch to Al Ain’s Super Cup opponents, Al Ahli.
The Red Knights beat their city-rivals Al Shabab 4-3 in the President’s Cup final on May 28, after defeating Al Ain by a solitary goal in the semi-final.
It’s widely acknowledged that these two clubs will fight it out for the league over the coming season, so this is a chance for them both to lay down an early marker for the season.
If this wasn’t enough to give the game some extra heat, the movement of Olaroiu from one club to the other has been the major talking point of the summer. So what about the teams?
To promote the development of local football in the country, each club is only allowed to have four foreign players in their squad – three internationals and one Asian.
Al Ain replaced their two-time winning coach with Uruguayan Jorge Fossati and have since signed Brazilian winger Michel Bastos from Lyon in France.
As well as the Ghanaian Gyan, they also have Romanian midfielder Mirel Radoi and Aussie star Alex Brosque in their squad.
In an effort to win back the championship they last won in 2009, Al Ahli have spent big this summer on players such as Portuguese midfielder Hugo Viana from Braga in Portugal and Brazilian forward Ciel, whom they acquired from local club Shabab.
The game will be played at the home of Al Jazira, the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, which has a capacity of over 45,000. The stadium, which is just a few minutes’ drive from the Corniche, is modern and spacious, and lends spectators a fantastic view.
Tickets are available until Thursday from both participating clubs as well as the host club, Al Jazira. A limited number of tickets will also be available on the gate on match day itself, with fans encouraged to get to the stadium early to avoid disappointment.
First-class tickets cost Dh50 and second-class tickets are for just Dh20. Al Ain fans have been allocated gates 9, 10, 11, 12, 17, whilst gates 21, 25, 27, 28 and 29 are reserved for Al Ahli supporters.
WHAT: Arabian Gulf Super Cup WHERE: Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi WHEN: Friday, August 30 – kick-off: 19:25 CONTACT: www.proleague.ae
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