Moatasem Abdullah (Abu Dhabi)
The new season of amateur competitions 2024-2025 will witness an intensive presence of experienced stars from the national players transferred from the “Professional League”, coinciding with the final preparations for the launch of the new season with the matches of the first round of the First Division League on September 14 and 15, and the preliminary qualifiers for the President’s Cup on September 20 and 21.
The opportunity seems favorable to increase the number of local players from the well-known names in the professional league in the past seasons, with the registration period continuing in the “summer mercato” until the beginning of next October.
United, who are playing their second season in the First Division, have taken the lead in terms of signings in the “Citizens Mercato”, after the team led by Dutchman Arno Boateng, the former coach of Al Wahda, concluded a number of quality deals, including the “Al Annabi” duo, Fares Juma and Ahmed Rashid, in addition to veteran goalkeeper Ali Saqr, along with Ibrahim Al Kaabi who came from Emirates Club, Badr Bilal who moved from Dibba Al Hisn, and Abdulrahman Adel from Shabab Al Ahli.
Al Hamriya, which recently concluded a preparatory camp in Egypt, strengthened its ranks by signing former international Ismail Al Hammadi, who moved at the end of his contract with Emirates Club, while Dibba sought the services of the “veteran” midfielder Tariq Ahmed, in addition to contracting with the “duo” Saeed Jassim and Khalfan Al Nubi.
Al-Arabi, led by national coach Badr Tabib, returned former international full-back Mohamed Fawzi (34 years old) to service, after his absence from last season 2023-2024, since his last appearance in the Al-Nasr jersey, his former club, in the 2022-2023 season. This is the same scenario that Al-Dhafra implemented, by contracting with Ryan Yaslam, who has been absent due to injury since his last official appearance in the 2022-2023 season in the Sharjah jersey.
Al Jazira Al Hamra, which has returned to the competitive atmosphere in the First Division after announcing its withdrawal, signed a contract with striker Jamal Marouf, the former player of Dibba, Hatta, Al Ain, Sharjah and Al Nasr, while Emirates Club included the “duo” Yaqoub Al Balushi and Abdul Rahman Ali.
The new season of the First Division will witness the first appearance of Fleetwood United and Al Dhahra, the champions and runners-up of the Second Division last season, in addition to Emirates and Hatta, who were relegated from the “ADNOC Professional League” at the end of last season 2023-2024.
At the end of the current season, the champion and runner-up of the First Division will advance to the “Professionals” in the following season 2025-2026, while the “penultimate and last” team will be relegated to the Second Division.
The most prominent contracts of citizens
Ismail Al Hammadi “Al Hamriya”
Tariq Ahmed “Daba”
Fares Juma “United”
Ahmed Rashid “United”
Jamal Ma’rouf “The Red Island”
Mohamed Fawzy “Al Arabi”
Ryan hands over Al Dhafra
#Reverse #migration #local #stars #Division
