Foreign players in the Arabian Gulf League refused to be held responsible for the decline of the UAE football, or the problem of the unsuccessful experience of professional football, which has been applied for 11 years, stressing that they are part of the entire system, which if successful will be the reasons for this success, At the same time, when there is a decline, foreign players certainly have a role to play.

They told the UAE Today that the foreign players formed a strong addition to the Arabian Gulf League, through the signing of a large number of international players, in addition to the records set by many players in the past years, explaining that the responsibility in the contract with the foreign player, lies on It is the responsibility of the club departments, whose choices must be appropriate to the needs of each team, while at the same time focusing on the inclusion of the players who will make the addition.

The UAE league is considered one of the most prominent Arab leagues attracting foreign players, since it was launched in 1973, has passed many names and international stars on the UAE football, in order to develop local football, and improve the levels of national players, and increase the size of competition between clubs, which helps them to compete Arab, Gulf and continental, and in the interest of the national team, the friction of national players with a large number of distinguished foreign players, and become «white» able to compete against the best teams in Asia, and always compete for titles, and achieve the most important goal, which is to qualify for Ace World.

In practice, however, the contract with foreign players was suspended from the 1982/83 season until 1998, before the doors were reopened for clubs to strengthen their ranks with foreign players, including the number of signings from two players to three, and then apply the regulations of the AFC, with the addition of an Asian player. Finally, this condition was removed locally and four foreign players were hired.However, the most remarkable achievements of UAE football were in the period when foreign players were absent from appearing in the UAE, when the national team qualified for the first time in its history to the 1990 World Cup in Italy. The achievements of the clubs was our win The eye of the AFC Champions League title in 2003, before the application of professionalism in 2008, which was followed by a boom in contracts with foreign players.

On the other hand, although the clubs have signed many of the stars who have registered their mark in the history of the UAE league, but in general, the UAE football did not benefit as expected from these stars, both in terms of the development of national teams in all stages of the year in general. The number of achievements was not exceeding the fingers of one hand, most notably the youth team won the title of the Asian Cup 2009, the Olympic team qualified for the London Olympics 2012, and the national team won the bronze of Asia 2015 in Australia, while the foreign player became a «losing trade» for clubs Gulf League Arab, especially since the clubs contract with a large number of players in each season, before the change is not a small percentage in the winter transfer period, and the number increases after the end of the season, and this crisis continues every season, because of the small number of foreign players who prove their presence. The most important point is the absence of the investment side for the contracts of foreign players in terms of benefiting them financially, by reselling them, with the exception of a few names, through which the clubs have achieved technical gains, at the same time material.

Emirates Today met with a number of foreign players, who stressed that it is not logical to hold them alone responsible for the decline of the UAE football, pointing out that the choices of the quality of players is the responsibility of club departments, stressing at the same time that the foreign player is making a big addition to the UAE league, not a condition The success of foreign players, that there will be an investment return from resale.

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