The 46th edition of the Arabian Gulf League kicks off tomorrow
7 crowning clubs and 14 merger cases ... and a number that has stood still for 23 years
Al Ain is the most crowned club in the history of the league ... and the champions Sharjah.
Photography: Osama Abu Ghanem
Al Ain is the most crowned ... and Sharjah is the title holder.
Photography: Osama Abu Ghanem.
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The wheel of the Arab Gulf League returns to rotation, starting tomorrow, in a new season, after a period of hiatus that has lasted almost seven months since the suspension of last season in March due to the Corona pandemic and then canceled.
After a period of preparation, and after the first round of the Arab Gulf Cup, as well as the participation of three clubs in the first round of the AFC Champions League, the 14 teams of the AFC Champions League will face a new challenge in light of exceptional and unprecedented conditions due to the precautionary measures accompanying the Corona pandemic, as well as the result of holding competitions without public.
This championship also coincides with the celebrations and preparations of the UAE to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the country.
"Emirates Today" sheds light on a group of numbers that accompanied the 47 editions in the history of the league, which witnessed the cancellation of only two championships, in 1990 and 2020: the first due to the Gulf War, and the second due to the Corona virus, so that the next version is the 46th.
Of the seven crowned winners, Al Ain is the most with 13 titles, while the merger was present in the history of clubs in 14 cases, while Al Wasl and the league’s historic goalscorer number, Fahd Khamis, with 165 goals, has been holding for 23 years.
Over the 60 years since the founding of the oldest Emirati club, Brigadier Al Nasrawi, the history of the league witnessed 14 cases of merger, during which clubs disappeared and others appeared, the most prominent of which was the last merger in 2017, when the people merged with Sharjah under the name of "Sharjah", while Al-Ahly clubs merged. And Al-Shabab and Dubai under the name "Al-Ahly Youth."
It was remarkable at the beginning of the 1973 - 1974 competition that it started with the participation of 12 teams, and played in the group fashion, and Al-Arabiya (now Sharjah) was crowned with the first title, and Shabab Al-Ahly (formerly Al-Ahly) was the first to achieve the double with the 1975 and 1976 titles.
It was notable that Al-Nasr withdrew from the 1976 season, while the following season witnessed the start of Al Ain’s coronation with 12 teams.
In contrast, the first title of the Emirates Club Dean (Al-Nasr) was delayed until the 1978 season, and then he maintained the title in the following season.
And the number of clubs kept increasing and decreasing from season to season.
Al-Ahly regained the league’s shield with the third title in 1980, while Al Ain clinched the second title in the 1981 season.
Triple Link
The eighties of the last century witnessed the brilliance of Al Wasl, where he won his first titles in 1982, then 1983, while for the first time Al Ain was equal to Al Ahly in the number of titles (the third shield) in 1984.
Al-Wasl confirmed his supremacy in this era after winning the title twice in a row, and succeeded in achieving his third title in the 1984-1985 season and retaining the Shield.
After the absence of seven seasons, Al-Nassr returned and achieved its third title in the 1986 season, and in the following season Sharjah returned and won its second title, and Al-Wasl was the only club crowned with the league title when it achieved the fourth shield in the 1988 season.
1989 witnessed Sharjah's return to the coronation, while in 1990 Emirati football was on a date with a historic event by qualifying for the first and only time to the World Cup in Italy, while Al-Shabab (currently Shabab Al-Ahly) won their first title.
1991 saw the championship canceled due to the Gulf War, while in 1992 it was held for the last time with the participation of 16 teams, and its title was won at the time, Al Wasl.
After a nine-year absence, Al Ain won his fourth title in 1993, and in the following season he crowned Sharjah, while Al-Shabab (Al-Ahly Youth now) returned to the podium and won the 1995 title, then Sharjah won the 1996 title, and Al Wasl won the sixth title in 1997.
The dominance of the unit and the eye
The period between 1998 and 2005 witnessed the domination of Al-Wehda and Al-Ain, as "Al-Zaeem" returned to crowning in 1998 with a fifth title, while the 1999 season witnessed the birth of a new champion, Al-Wehda Club.
At the beginning of the new millennium, Al Ain Al Wasl scored his sixth title, before Al Wahda won his second title in the 2001 season.
And Al Ain dominated the league title for three consecutive seasons 2002, 2003 and 2004, which also witnessed in 2003 the crowning of the only title for the UAE clubs in the AFC Championships, as well as the only one with nine titles in the Shield.
In the 2005 season, Al-Wehda won its third title after competing against Al Ain.
The return of Al-Ahly youth
Shabab Al-Ahly (formerly Al-Ahly) succeeded in ending the domination of Abu Dhabi clubs' league title in the 2005-2006 season, and won their fourth title after an absence of 26 years, and the matter was repeated in the following season with Al Wasl, who won his seventh title after an absence of nine years in the 2006-2007 season. And in the 2007-2008 season, Al-Shabab (currently Shabab Al-Ahly) won the last titles before professionalism.
The era of professionals .. and the emergence of the island
A new era began in the history of the league with its move to the era of professionalism, and Shabab Al-Ahly (formerly Al-Ahly) was the first to win this title in 2009, which was its fifth title, then Al-Wahda in 2010, before the 2011 season witnessed the birth of a new hero, Al-Jazirah.
Al-Ain succeeded in returning after an absence of eight years, and scored the 10th and 11th shield in the next two seasons. It was remarkable that the name of the "Arab Gulf League" was given to the 40th edition, and the owner of the first print was Shabab Al-Ahly (formerly Al-Ahly).
In 2015, Al-Ain came back strongly and won the 12th shield after a strong competition with Al-Jazeera, then Shabab Al-Ahly (formerly Al-Ahly) won the 2016 title, which is its last in the competition.
After that, Al-Jazeera won his second title in 2017, then Al Ain returned to win his thirteenth title in 2018.
Return after an absence of 23 years
King Cherkaoui returned after the absence of 23 years from the last coronation to win the title of the 2018-2019 season and join the list of professional crowners, to become the team in fourth place among the clubs most crowned with the league title with six titles, and maintains the title so far after the championship was canceled last year due to Corona virus, to be (the king) the last team to win the league title.
Sharjah is the first and the last to win the league title, and Shabab Al-Ahly launched the professional titles.
Al Ain established its hegemony since the start of the new millennium, and the Al-Nassr titles ceased in 1986.
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