The annual regional club football competition has been on hiatus for three years since Algeria’s USM Alger beat Kuwait’s Al Arabi Mansuriya 3-2 on aggregate in the two-legged, 2012/13 showpiece.

But following a meeting in Riyadh of the organisation’s 22 member nations, from West Africa, East Africa, North Africa and the Middle East, it has been decided a rebranded competition will be brought back with the name Arab World Club Cup.

Each individual FA have to submit their participant by July 14. In the case of the UAE, they must either be the Arabian Gulf League holders (Al Ahli) or runners-up (Al Ain) or the team which lifted the President’s Cup (Al Jazira) or were beaten in the final (Al Ain).

The tournament is to be held in three distinct stages.

Preliminary qualifiers with the weakest nations are to be held in November, with stronger nations such as the UAE getting involved in December.

A total of eight clubs from eight countries will then be split into two groups in August 2017 for the competition proper, with a knockout stage following to decide the inaugural AWCC champion.