The majority of the Arab Gulf League clubs supported the idea of canceling the competition this season, after they stopped on March 15, by a decision from the Football Association for four weeks, as a precaution to counter the emerging corona virus (Covid-19).
And «Emirates Today» monitored the views of officials in the Arab Gulf League clubs, regarding the scenarios presented regarding the future of the competition, which was suspended after the establishment of the 19th round matches, as it generally supported the scenario of canceling the competition completely, while it was excluded from completing it after the end of the existing precautions period to confront the Corona virus, With the exception of the Al-Ahly youth club, it rejected the third option of adopting the victory of Al-Ahly youth, the Hatta and Fujairah drop.
Hussein Suhail, director of the island's soccer team, confirmed that it is too early to anticipate scenarios for the future of the Arab Gulf League matches and the remaining seven rounds, stressing that Al-Jazeera is committed to the decision that the authorities and responsible bodies will take, along with the Football Association.
And about the possibility of crowning Al-Ahly youth with the title, he said: “It is not logical to crown the team with the title, especially since there are three other clubs that compete in the title, as the difference is not great, as happened in the English Premier League, which is ranked first by Liverpool by a very big difference from its closest competitors, Therefore, for us on the island, we agree with either completing the competition if conditions permit, or taking the decision to cancel in order to preserve everyone. ”
It is noteworthy that Al-Ahly youth adheres to its right to crown if the season is canceled, as it leads the competition, currently, with 43 points, compared to 37 for runners-up Al Ain, and 36 for the third island, while at the bottom, Fujairah occupies the last position with 12 points, compared to 13 points until the penultimate.
For his part, Al-Wasl company board member, Hamid Yusef, said that they tend to cancel the competition in the current season, pointing to the difficulty of completing the matches, in light of the lack of clarity about the possibility of completing the league or not.
He explained: «The President’s Cup’s final must also be canceled, so that the decision applies to all competitions if the inability to hold matches in the current season, especially since there is a proposal to complete the league in June, and certainly it is difficult to implement this proposal due to the high temperature, to Besides, the preparation period will undoubtedly be affected, and with it next season’s matches in general. ”
The same opinion was agreed by a member of the Board of Directors of Al-Wahda Club, the official spokesman, Dr. Jamal Al-Hosani, about the necessity of canceling the league championship, in order to preserve the safety of the fans, players and technical equipment.
He said: “The league championship is not more valuable than the health of individuals and society. There are championships such as the nations of Europe and the Olympics that were postponed after the spread of the Corona virus, and major leagues in Europe have been suspended, and they achieve billions of dollars in profits, and yet they preferred public health over sports activity, which is considered in The first and last is an entertainment aspect.
He added: «We have to be honest with the soul, and cancel the competition without thinking about the accounts of who will be the champions of the league and who will fall or ascend, in the end the damage is suffered on all clubs, albeit in varying forms, but in the end no one has any involvement in what happened.»
Deputy Chairman of Ajman Club, Ahmed Al-Foura, renewed his club's call to cancel the Arab Gulf League championship due to the current circumstances.
Al-Furah said: "All roads have led to the cancellation of the competition, especially since the situation is not clear with regard to the return of the league, and the continuation of the situation as it is now increases the size of the financial burdens on the clubs."
He added, "We must stand behind the efforts made by the government agencies in the Emirates, and take the necessary preventive measures to deal with the virus and prevent its spread, in order to preserve the safety of citizens and residents in the country."
He added: "The psychological state of the players and technical equipment is not in the best condition for him to demand them to return to training and matches, in light of the spread of the disease around the world in such an accelerated form, and issuing a decision to cancel the competition will comfort everyone."
In turn, the head of the Hatta Football Company, Ali Al-Badawi, stressed the difficulty of returning league competitions at this time, due to the great fear of the spread of this virus, and that there will be fear among players and lack of self-confidence or others, especially as this situation occurs now and everyone is committed in the homes Therefore, it will be difficult to play games with many interventions and rallies even if without an audience, and everyone will be afraid, in addition to that stopping the league will certainly cause the technical side to weak, and it will harm in terms of physical effort for players, and there will be many injuries if the league returns in this way.
For his part, the president of Al-Nasr Football Company, Abdul Rahman Abu Al-Shawareb, supported the idea of canceling the league championship this year, due to the great stoppage due to the Corona virus, stressing that there may certainly be injustice to the teams in the lead or landing, but the public interest is to cancel the championship, and for The victory of the team if the tournament is canceled and what will happen to the Arab Gulf Cup, and will there be a possibility to withdraw the tournament, he explained that «the Arab Gulf Cup championship ended, and that it was calculated, but the rest of the tournaments did not end».
On the other hand, the Chairman of the Fujairah Football Company, Nasser Mohamed Al Yamahi, affirmed that "wolves" with any tendency contribute to preserving the health of the players and the technical and administrative staff of the team, and not to harm any of the sports family due to the emerging Corona virus (Covid-19), Al-Yamahi said: We are with the cancellation of the league, if it causes damage to the players and other coaches and administrators, and health and safety remains the most important thing », but he stressed that he believes that Al-Ahly youth deserve the coronation of the shield.
The opinion of a member of Khorfakkan Football Company and the supervisor of the first team, Ali Khalil, did not differ on the idea of canceling the competitions of the current season of the Arab Gulf League, in the event of a delay in returning to training and competitions, due to the difficulty of restoring players to the normal physical condition and with the climate climate approaching the high temperature and usual humidity He said: “The health and safety of the sports family is completely more important than any competitions and preserving the players, coaches, administrators and the media that covers the competitions and the public, is more important than anything else, so we are with the cancellation of competitions, and regarding the eligibility of Al Ahly youth to get Ra championship as a topping to arrange the participating clubs, it is worth Vari granted the shield, if allowed regulations so ».
For his part, the member of the board of the Football Company of Al Dhafra Club, the first team supervisor, Ahmed Omran Al Qubaisi, confirmed that with the decision to cancel the league without crowning any team with the title, indicating that “injustice to everyone is justice”, and that the idea of resuming the championship will have negative effects More, and clubs will need to establish a preparatory camp, and matches will be played with more pressure to end the season before entering the summer.
Al Qubaisi said that canceling the Arab Gulf League without crowning any team is the most appropriate option from their point of view, provided that the President’s Cup is held early next season along the lines of some unions around the world that are seriously considering implementing this principle, and pointed out that even if the league is canceled and final Cup championship, Al Dhafra will have won many positive sides. He said, "Maybe we might hate this, but maybe it has a lot of good."
In the poll «Emirates Today» on its account on the social networking site «Twitter», regarding the scenarios of the competition in the coming period, the majority of participants saw that the league be canceled by (61.4%), while (25.4%) called for the completion of the competition if conditions allowed to do so, in return (13.2%) considered that it is better to adopt the current results, which crown Al-Ahly youth as the champion of the competition.
Association regulation in the event of cancellation of the competition:
Article (5) - Chapter (2):
If, for any reason, it is decided to cancel the competition, then the arrangement of clubs is used in the previous season to determine the clubs that represent the state in any local, continental and international championship, provided that the club is eligible to participate in these championships in accordance with the provisions of Article (6) of these regulations.
Khaled Al-Kaabi: If the league does not complete, it makes sense for Al-Ahly youth to crown
Khaled Al Kaabi, the administrator of the football team in Al-Ahly youth, told «Emirates Today» that the club is looking forward to what can happen in the coming period, stressing that Al-Ahly youth is committed to the measures taken by the state regarding stopping the league competition to face the threat of the spread of the new Corona virus (Covid) -19), noting that "if the league does not complete, then it is logical that Al-Ahly youth be crowned."
Khaled Al-Kaabi continued: The team tops the ranking list, six points behind its nearest stalkers, while seven rounds remain until the end of the competition. On the other hand, he pointed out that Al-Ahly youth tends to complete the league matches, after ensuring that there is no risk of competing.
Shabab Al-Ahly leads the league with 43 points, compared to 37 for Al-Ain Al-Wasif and 36 points for Al-Jazira III.
- Most clubs consider that the current conditions do not serve the endeavors of resuming the season.