They confirmed the clubs' success in attracting professionals with high technical levels
Trainers: The Emirati basket reaped technical benefits from the Corona pandemic ... and did not exploit it financially
The Basketball League has been suspended since last March due to precautionary measures to limit the spread of the Corona virus. From the source
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The coaches of the Emirati basketball clubs for men and women confirmed that the technical benefits gained by the “Emirates basket” due to the crisis of the “Coronavirus” pandemic that affected the global arena were the ability to conclude contracts with foreign professionals who have high technical levels, and with the same salaries and budgets that were allocated last season to conclude Such engagements.
The technical director of the Sharjah team and the former coach of the national team, Abdul Hamid Ibrahim, told «Emirates Today»: “Despite the abundance imposed by the pandemic in terms of quantity and quality, and the opportunity for UAE clubs to conclude contracts with professionals of higher technical levels who previously led them to play in advanced leagues. Around the world, however, the Emirates basket system, which will complete the current season’s tournament next September, has not succeeded in properly exploiting the repercussions of the crisis, especially in terms of the possibility of reducing budgets and financial values of these deals.
He explained: “The exploitation of the pandemic was limited to the technical side only.” He added, “The economic crisis imposed by the pandemic has cast a shadow over various sectors around the world, including the sports aspect, which prompted a large number of foreign professionals to search for new periodicals and challenges, and from my point of view it was possible to find compatibility. What is required between those contracts to be made with the names of professionals of high technical levels, and the pursuit of a greater reduction in budgets.
For his part, the technical director of Al-Nasr, the Egyptian Ahmed Omar, confirmed that there is no change to the financial values paid to conclude contracts by clubs, especially competition for the title, but rather with obtaining qualitative options from contracts, especially with professionals with European leagues experience.
Omar said: “The recent period recorded the success of many state clubs in taking advantage of the repercussions of Corona, which imposed difficulties on the travel and movement of professional players around the world, and the suspension of sports activity in major leagues, and recent contracts revealed the success of the UAE clubs in attracting professional names that had never been before. They have a presence in the Arab leagues, and they enjoy the experience of the major European leagues, in the same way. Victory finally signed with the Americans, Michel Young, who came from the French League, and his compatriot Charles Rodels, who participated in the Spanish League as well as his professional experiences in the Turkish, Japanese, Filipino and South Korean leagues.
He added: “The same applies to Al-Ahly youth, who contracted with Mike Zacker John (30 years old), who is the first German player to be in the UAE league, who is 210 centimeters tall and possesses high technical capabilities, whether by playing with his country’s national team that participated in the finals. European nations in 2013, or by playing in the German League ».
In turn, the coach of the women's club Al-Nasr, and the former coach of the Syrian women's national team, Hala Shehadeh, said: “The women's clubs are among the biggest beneficiaries of the Corona crisis, in light of the abundance of high-level professional players seeking to find clubs to play in their ranks, especially After stopping many major leagues around the world due to precautionary measures and sporting activity in them has stopped.
She explained: “The majority of the women's league clubs in the country, during the last season, were suffering in the ability to enter into contracts with professional women who add to the team, or even with players who accept the presence in a women's league, in which participation is limited to a limited number of clubs, unless sports activity is stopped. In the women's basketball leagues in a number of countries around the world, it has provided a wide choice of professional players who have high technical levels and are looking to conclude contracts that allow them to continue playing, which will positively affect the competitive strength in the UAE Women's League. As for the technical director of the basketball sector, the coach of the Al-Bataih team, the Egyptian Imam Abdul-Badi ', he said: “The increase in the number of clubs, and allowing each club to contract with two foreign professionals, made the market for contracts in the Emirati basket more wide, which imposed its respect on the players' agents. In keenness to complete contract deals with their professionals with real values, which was confirmed by the contracts that were recorded over the past and current seasons, which witnessed a correction in prices, and a decrease of 30 to 40% of what the players wanted when the competition in the Basketball League was limited to five clubs only ».
He continued: “The recent contracts for the clubs came with the same budgeted values last season, and revealed the positive side that the Emirates basket had gained from the Corona crisis, by contracting with professionals with higher technical specifications with the financial values of the previous salaries paid by the clubs, in addition to the presence of the names of foreigners who had never been before. She can play in the region, or even think about playing in the Emirates League.
• Difficulties with transportation and travel, and the suspension of major tournaments, which contributed to the demand of foreign players in the UAE Basketball League.