UAE’s new football season set to begin on Oct.8

SHARJAH: The 2020-21 football season of the UAE is all set for kick off from Oct.8.

The UAE Football Association (UAE FA) and the UAE Pro League announced on Tuesday, saying that the re-scheduled season will kick-off with the opening rounds of the Arabian Gulf Cup on Oct.8.

The Arabian Gulf League will start from Oct.16.

“The decision comes after a series of coordination meetings with the competent authorities in the country,” the statement said.

“The UAE Football Association and the UAE Pro League will issue the schedules and dates of matches for all the football competitions within a sufficient period to allow the clubs to be optimally prepared for the new season’s competitions.

“The UAE Pro League thanked the competent authorities for all their efforts to ensure public safety for all sectors of the society, and also thanked the UAE Football Association, and commended the clubs for their commitment and adherence to the implementation of the approved protocol in order to preserve the safety of members of the technical and administrative bodies, the players and all the workers in the football sector,” the statement added.

Earlier, the news football season was supposed to get under way on Sept.3, 2020 with Arabian Gulf Cup matches instead of traditional curtain raiser Super Cup match.

But the authorities decided to postpone the season indefinitely until October on the eve of the new season.

Prior to that, the last season was suspended with seven rounds remaining in the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) due to the coronavirus.

Prior to that, the AGL season was suspended in the mid of March due to pandemic coronavirus, which brought the whole sporting fraternity across the globe to a grinding halt.

In a major overhaul, the UAE Pro League general assembly decided to suspend the relegation, coronation and promotion system for the current season. The cancellation of the league with seven rounds to spare, in the wake of coronavirus, prompted the decision to suspend the relegation, promotion and crowning a new champion for the 2019-20 season.

The last three teams in the standings at the end of the season are relegated to the first division every year.

When the league was stopped Khorfakkan, Hatta and Fujairah were in the drop zone. Khorfakkan were on 12th spot in the standing followed by Hatta and Fujairah in 13th and 14th places respectively.

While on the top of the standings, Shabab Al Ahli were leading the pack with 43 points followed by Al Ain in second and Al Jazira in third with 37 and 36 points respectively.

Battle for the ACL had already heated up with just two points separating four teams. However, it was already decided earlier, if the league is not completed ACL berths would be decided according to last season’s standings.

Various reasons were cited by the Pro League, which prompted the decision to abort the tournament such as health and safety of the players and to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

It was also cited, in line with the decision issued by FIFA preventing clubs from registering new players to replace those unwilling to extend their contracts until the end of the 2019-20 season, would result in most clubs having incomplete squads and create an inequal opportunities between competing clubs.