Training camps and new deals promise an exceptional season

Athletes expect that there will be strong competition for the title of the new version of the Professional League for the 2024-2025 season, which starts tomorrow, and they attributed this to a set of evidence, most notably the training camps that the clubs went through in preparation for the new season, in addition to the strong deals concluded by some teams, as well as the strong end that the tournament witnessed last season, and the desire of the teams to continue with the same strength during the new season, in addition to the presence of the champion of the league and cup double, Al Wasl team, seeking to repeat the experience of winning the title, in addition to the desire of both Al Ain and Shabab Al Ahli to return to winning the title and regaining the shield. They pointed out that the most convincing, developed and capable teams to be in the heart of the competition to win the league shield are Al Wasl, Al Ain and Shabab Al Ahli, with the possibility of the presence of Al Jazira, Al Wahda, Al Nasr and Sharjah teams, as they are always candidates to compete for the title.

They confirmed to “Emarat Al Youm” that “Al Ain’s victory in the AFC Champions League title, and Al Wasl’s victory in the double last season, will create strong competition for the league title, and will also make attention turn to the UAE league.”

The current summer transfers witnessed the conclusion of a large number of distinctive deals, as the Asian champion Al Ain signed the Portuguese Fabio Cardoso from Porto, while the league champion Al Wasl signed the Japanese player Takashi Uchino, in addition to signing the Serbian player Srdan Mijajlovic, and Shabab Al Ahli concluded two distinctive deals by signing the Iranian player Sardar Azmoun from Bayer Leverkusen, and the Brazilian center-back Iago Santos. Al Jazira joined the strong deals, announcing the signing of the former Arsenal and Egyptian national team star Mohamed Elneny, and the Croatian league top scorer, the Argentine Ramon Merez, while Al Nasr concluded a strong local deal, which is the signing of the legend Ali Mabkhout, and the transfer period is still ongoing.

Four-way competition

For his part, the Director of the UAE Beach Soccer Team, Badr Hareb, said that the UAE League has become one of the strong championships, and will have a large following, especially after Al Ain won the AFC Champions League title, which will motivate many teams to win the league, and repeat what Al Ain did in terms of successful and honorable representation of Emirati football on the international level.

He stressed that the external participation of Al Wasl, Al Ain, Shabab Al Ahli, Sharjah and Al Nasr teams will have a major role in drawing the competition map, and said: “Any team that wants to repeat Al Ain’s achievement needs a strong bench, players at an excellent level, and all lines complete.”

Badr Harb expected that Al Bataeh team would be the dark horse during the new season, and that it would play an important role in its matches with the top teams, while the competition for the league title would be four-way.

Surprise victory

For his part, the players’ agent, Walid Al Shamsi, confirmed that the summer contracts will play an important role in shaping the nature of the competition for the league title next season, especially Shabab Al Ahli’s contract with the Iranian international Sardar Azmoun coming from the German club Bayer Leverkusen, but at the same time he expected a surprise from the Al Nasr team, and to be among the candidates to compete for the title, due to the presence of the Dutch coach Schroeder, and also due to the good deals concluded by the team, most notably the contract with Ali Mabkhout.

He said: “The competition will be between the trio of Al Wasl, Al Ain and Shabab Al Ahli, given the distinguished level they presented last season, as well as the strength of the preparation period and summer contracts. Al Nasr may be the dark horse in the competition for the title.”

“I expect Sharjah to be out of the competition in the new season, due to the crises it has suffered since last season, especially with the Romanian coach Cosmin, and also the lack of strong deals. The same applies to Al Wahda and Al Jazira, even though they have a good group of players, especially Al Jazira, which has concluded two heavyweight deals. But at the same time, the team does not have the charisma of a champion competing for the title,” he added.

Regarding the competition in the middle zone, Al Shamsi pointed out that the teams of Al Bataeh, Ajman, Bani Yas and Ittihad Kalba did a good job during the summer transfer period, but he explained that the competition of these teams will be in the middle of the table, and their matches may play an important role in determining the identity of the teams competing for the league title, stressing that the trio (Al Ain, Al Wasl and Shabab Al Ahli) will be at the heart of the competition.

exceptional season

Technical analyst, Khaled Obaid, pointed out that the new season will be exceptional in terms of competition between the teams that will be very fierce at the top, and he explained that the teams’ preparations show their great readiness, especially Al Wasl, Al Ain, Shabab Al Ahli and Al Wahda.

“Sharjah may be relatively far from the competition due to the lack of strong deals, and the same applies to Al Jazira, which was far from the competition last season. The two teams are currently in the construction phase, and if they succeed in exploiting the preoccupation of Al Ain, Al Wasl and Shabab Al Ahli with external participations and the large number of matches, they may have a different appearance,” he said. “The dark horse for the new season will be between Ajman, Bani Yas and Al Bataeh, which are teams that always provide positive results, and even the bottom teams will have strong competition due to the large number of deals that have been announced. I expect that the teams that have not succeeded in gaining points since the beginning of the league will find it difficult to catch up with the middle and top teams.”

“It is difficult to predict which team will win the league title. Some teams have performed brilliantly in the preparation period and also in terms of deals, but the first five rounds of the league will be very decisive in determining the identity of the teams that will complete the season, especially with the international break and external participations at the Asian level,” he added.