In two separate statements from the Football Association and the Professional League
Postponing the start of the football season to next October
From the final of the last edition of the Arab Gulf Cup between Shabab Al-Ahly and Al-Nasr.
Photography: Osama Abu Ghanem
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The Football Association and the Professional League announced in two separate statements the postponement of the start of the new sports season 2020-2021 to next October instead of today, after consulting with the competent authorities in the country, provided that the new dates will be announced later, noting that the Football Association had frozen sports activity Last March, before he decided to cancel the 2019-2020 sports season, after the Arab Gulf League reached round 19 out of 26 rounds, due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus (Covid-19).
It was decided that the new season would start today with the first round of the Arabian Gulf Cup competition being held with three meetings that brought together Shabab Al Ahly with Al Dhafra and Fujairah with Ajman and Ittihad Kalba with Al Jazeera. Postponement decision.
The Football Association said in a statement yesterday: “The Football Association decided, in coordination with the UAE Professional League, to postpone the start of the sports season until next October,” while the statement of the Professional League carried the same context without any additional clarifications regarding the decision to postpone.
For his part, a source in the Football Association confirmed to "Emirates Today" that "the reason for the delay came after the Football Association evaluated matters in coordination and consultation with the Professional League and the competent authorities in the country."
The local clubs had completed all their preparations for the start of the new season by local preparation camps and friendly matches, before the news of the postponement was issued until next October.
It is expected that this postponement of the start of the new season will lead to a complete re-programming of the competitions again, especially at the level of the Arab Gulf League, whose competition draw was held last July.
The last match held before stopping due to the Coronavirus brought Al-Jazeera together with Al-Ain on March 14th, within the Arab Gulf League, before local activities and sports competitions were stopped, followed by the cancellation of the results of the Arab Gulf League and the President's Cup, and the announcement of only the champions of the Arab Gulf Super Cup. (Sharjah), and the Arabian Gulf Cup (Al-Nasr).
And the resumption of local football activity today (before the decision to postpone) will witness exceptional changes in the new version of the Arabian Gulf Cup, which will be applied for the first time in the history of the tournament in light of the developments imposed by the Corona pandemic, most notably the change of the competition form from the two-group system to the knockout system. With two back-and-forth matches from the first round to the semi-finals, with the final to be held in one match at a neutral stadium.
The UAE stadiums would also witness for the first time the permission for clubs to switch five players during the match, based on the temporary amendment to the law of the game, which was authorized by the International Federation for the 2020-2021 season, provided that the substitutions were made in three opportunities for each team during the match to avoid the large number of interruptions. It is permissible to take place between the two halves, and the amendments to the competition regulations include mandatory registration of three Emirati players born in 1997 and above in the list, instead of five players, while canceling the item related to the participation of three of them from the start of the match.
These precautionary measures are important to protect the players and the technical and administrative apparatus, foremost of which is mandatory to show a negative result for the "Covid-19" examination, whose validity does not exceed a maximum week from the day of the match, while it is compulsory for all those on the stadium to wear triple medical or cloth masks. The classes, including coaches and substitute players, with the exception of the participants in the warm-up and the match and the arena referees, as all those on the field would have had their temperature checked, with no entry allowed to anyone with a temperature of 37.5 degrees Celsius or higher.
• Announcing the new dates later .. and a complete replay of the matches.
Postponement of the matches of today and tomorrow of the Arab Gulf Cup competition
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