Super Cup to kick-off UAE football season

Etisalat Pro-League champions Al Wahda and President’s Cup winners Emirates Club will open the new UAE domestic football season on August 20 with the annual Super Cup clash at Al Maktoum Stadium in Dubai. Kick-off is at 10pm due to Ramadan.
 
The first round of matches for the Etisalat Pro-League season will take place the following weekend on August 26, 27 and 28, providing UAE fans their first chance to see new, high profile recruits such as World Cup winning captain of Italy Fabio Cannavaro in action.
 
The Official Draw for the Etisalat Professional League and Etisalat Cup 2010/2011 season was held at the UAE Football Association’s headquarters in Dubai on Thursday morning with representatives from each of the 12 football clubs in attendance.
 
“Now that we have conducted the Official Draw and determined the schedule of matches for the upcoming season we are looking forward to many months of exciting football ahead,” said Dr Matar Al Darmaki, Vice-Chairman of UAE Football League (UFL). “There has been some quality signings in the off-season and the clubs have been working hard in preparation so we do expect to see some quality football.”
 
The 2010/2011 season will run for a total of nine months and will feature two new club, Ittihad Kalba and Dubai Club, following their promotion from the First Division.
 
While congratulating the new clubs that have been promoted to the League and existing members for their efforts last season, Dr Al Darmaki touched upon the development done at UFL throughout last two seasons. “As we embark on the third season the expectations are quite high as always. However, we do have plans to meet those expectations be they development, media, marketing or other commercial endeavours,” he said.
 
He thanked His Highness President of the UAE Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, His Higness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, as well as the Honorary President of the UAE Football Association (UAEFA) Shaikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
 
Dr Al Darmaki also alluded to the very good working relationship between the UAE Football Association and the UAE Football League which has allowed the UFL to prosper and take major steps in achieving its objective.
 
Etisalat’s representative Khalid Mattar congratulated everyone in advance ahead of the celebration of the Holy month of Ramadan, thanking customers and all those involved in development of football in UAE for giving Etisalat the opportunity to participate in sponsoring the Professional League. “Nowadays we operate in three continents with over 107 million customers and provide services in 18 countries around the world,” he said.
 
At the outset, the criteria, principles and mechanism of the Official Draw were explained.

The draw criteria aimed at minimising the number of consecutive home and away matches.

The club pairings that have been used in the past were continued since it is designed for clubs within close proximity to each other, not to play home matches on the same match day.

Also the non-availability of Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium of Al Jazira Club between October 24 and December 18 to eliminate or reduce the number of home matches scheduled as a consequence was addressed.

The mathematic matrix was used to address the pairing situation while Al Jazira would not be playing home matches during the eighth and ninth rounds of the league.
 
Former UAE players Khalid Ismail and Hassan Ali drew the lots for the Pro-League after the clubs were paired as follows: Al Wahda and Al Jazira, Al Ahli and Al Shabab, Al Nasr and Al Wasl, Al Sharjah and Kalba Union, Al Ain and Baniyas; Al Dhafra and Dubai Club.
 
Abu Dhabi club Al Wahda and Dubai’s Al Ahil will be away during the first round of action, the dates of which have yet to be finalized. Following is the first round draw (home teams first): Al Ain v Dubai, Al Dhafra v Al Ahli, Al Wasl v Al Wahda, Kalba Union v Sharjah, Al Jazira v Al Nasr, Al Shabab v Baniyas.
 
Salim Johar and Hassan Mohammed, also former UAE players picked the lots for the Etisalat Cup in which Al Wahda and last season’s runners-up Al Jazira were the top seeds. Group A comprises Al Wahda, Al Ain, Baniyas, Al Dhafra, Al Nasr and Dubai Club. Al Jazira, Al Shabab, Al Wasl, Al Ahli, Sharjah and Kalba Union were drawn in Group B for the Etisalat Cup which begins on October 9.
 
Football fans will be able to view the Match Schedule on the official UFL website  www.ufl.ae from August 20, 2010
 

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.