Moataz Al Shami (Abu Dhabi)
The 17th edition of the ADNOC Professional League, which kicks off on Friday with the first round matches, is witnessing a lot of pressure regarding the competition’s journey in general and the scheduling of its matches, which makes our clubs’ path difficult throughout the season, in light of the large number of external participations, after 4 teams qualified for the AFC Champions League for the Elite and AFC Champions League 2, in addition to Al-Nasr’s participation in the Gulf Club Champions League. The pressure on the calendar is also increasing due to our national team’s participation in the third stage of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, in addition to the scheduling of the Gulf Cup, which will be held in Kuwait from December 21 to January 3.
According to the current proposal, the league is expected to end with the “26th round” scheduled for May 29 and 30 of next year. If some matches are postponed due to special circumstances, or because of “calendar” pressures, the Professional League may be forced to postpone them, to be held on the sidelines of the national team’s gathering to participate in the World Cup qualifiers, in early June of next year, as happened last season.
In total, our league will be suspended for approximately 106 days throughout the season, due to the circumstances of the national team’s gatherings in the “FIFA Days” and its participation in the qualifiers, and the proximity of the “White” international matches to the schedule of the AFC Champions League for the elite, the Champions League 2, and the Gulf Clubs Champions Championship, which will be held on the same days as the AFC Champions League, which gets a space of 3 days each week, with two rounds in one month, and one round in the following month, then returns again with two rounds in the month, then one round again, and so on, until the combined tournament in Saudi Arabia, from the quarter-finals to the final, which will be held between late April and early May, while the “Champions League 2” matches will be held in a home and away system throughout the tournament, with the exception of the final, which will be a single match next May.
Looking at the proposed schedule for the season that starts today, with the first round of the “ADNOC Professional League”, we can notice the extreme congestion in the dates of competitions and matches for clubs and the national team, which has resulted in 106 league rounds being stopped, some of which include the “President’s Cup” rounds. The league is also forced to play the “Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Cup” during the “FIFA” days, especially the first rounds, and perhaps even the semi-finals, due to the presence of 3 professional competitions during the season, which are the “ADNOC Professional League”, the “Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Cup”, and the “Super Cup”, in addition to the “President’s Cup”, in addition to the “Emirati Qatari Super Cup” between the league and cup champions in the two countries.
The current season is also expected to witness the postponement of some of Al Ain’s matches, due to its participation in the FIFA Confederations Cup next December, taking into account the “Boss'” association with participating in the Club World Cup, in its new form in the summer of 2025 in America, which will be held next June.
The league will start with the first round matches today and tomorrow, then the second round will be held on August 29 and 30, and all players will join the national team on September 1. We can monitor the course of the next season, with the proposed stops, and the dates of local and foreign participation for our clubs during the following presentation:
“Super” December 13 and two proposals for the “Cup” final
The new season’s calendar includes a proposal to hold the Super Cup match on December 13, while there will be a proposal for two dates for the final of the “His Highness the President’s Cup” and the final of the “Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Cup”, where the first proposed day is April 19, and the second date is May 9, for either tournament, according to the decision of the Federation and the authorities concerned with organizing the final of the “His Highness the President’s Cup”, which will have priority in determining the date, followed by the “Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Cup”.
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