Sharjah maintain top spot, Al Ain beat Hatta

Sharjah finished off the first half of the season on the top of the standings after edging Ittihad Kalba 1-0 at Sharjah Stadium in matchweek 13 of the Arabian Gulf League on Friday.

Most of the first half play remained in the midfield, but the Kings found the back of the net in the 36th minute, thanks to a powerful effort from Otabek Shukurov, handing Sharjah a 1-0 lead into halftime.

Sharjah keeper Adel Al Hosani pulled off a good save to deny Peniel Mlapa at the beginning of the second half.

Al Hosani then denied Kalba twice ahead of the full time to hand Sharjah a valuable 1-0 win over Kalba.

The Kings now have 32 points on top, while the Tigers are on 19 points.

Al Ain return to winning ways: Al Ain returned to winning ways with a 1-0 victory over Hatta at Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium.

Salem Abdulla netted the winner in the 43rd minute following a cross inside the box, which wasn’t cleared by Hatta defense and keeper.

The Boss are now on 23 points in fifth place, while Hatta remain at the bottom on two points only.

Both sides failed to score any further goals, as the game ended in a 1-0 win for Al Ain.

Meanwhile, the UAE Pro League announced the schedule of the second half of the league season after holding a coordination meeting with the rights holders.

The right holders requested that the kick-off time of the first set of games in all matchweeks, up until matchweek 19, be fixed at 5.30pm, with the exception of matchweeks 20 and 21, which will kick off at 5.45pm. Meanwhile, the second set of matches will all kick off at 8.15pm.

The UAE Pro League revealed only the schedule for the period between matchweek 14 and matchweek 21. The remaining fixtures are yet to be announced, as the AFC Champions League schedule is not clear yet, after the continental competition was postponed from January to April.

The second half of the Arabian Gulf League season will kick off on Jan.29, as the first day of action will see Hatta host Al Wahda and Al Dhafra face Ajman away from home at 5.30pm. The last match of the day will see Al Jazira clash with Al Nasr at 8.15pm.

The matchweek 14 action resumes on Jan.30, when Khorfakkan face Al Ain and Shabab Al Ahli clash with Ittihad Kalba at 5.30pm. Afterwards, Sharjah will host Fujairah and Bani Yas welcome Al Wasl at 8.15pm.

Matchweek 15 will then be held on Feb.4-5, just before the national team training camp, which will be held between Feb.6 and 10. The Arabian Gulf League competition then resumes with matchweek 16, scheduled to take place on Feb.13-14.

The first leg of the Arabian Gulf Cup semi-finals will be followed by matchweek 17 on Feb.18 and 19 and matchweek 18 on the Feb.25 and 26 of the same month. They will then be followed by the second leg of the Arabian Gulf Cup semi-finals.

Matchweek 19 will be held on March 5-6, matchweek 20 is scheduled for the March 11-12, and matchweek 21 is set for March 15-16. Then, the national team training camp will be held between March 17 and March 30.

The schedule of the remaining matchweeks will be announced after the AFC announces its schedule for the continental competition.

It is worth mentioning that the UAE Pro League Technical Committee has already prepared for different scenarios for the remaining matchweeks in order to be able to respond to developments related to the AFC Champions League schedule.