2016/17 football season kicks off on Friday

AMMAN  — The 2016-2017 football season agenda kicks off on Friday when league champs Wihdat play Jordan Cup champs Ahli in 34th Super Cup — the first major competition on the 2016/17 football calendar.

Wihdat are upbeat and hope the return of stars Hasan Abdul Fatah and others to their line-up will enable them to compete locally and regionally .

With competitions set to start consecutively, Wihdat and Faisali, the country’s all-time top two football clubs, as well as Ahli and Jazira have been busy preparing their line-ups. Wihdat have contracted former national team coach Iraqi Adnan Hamad to lead the team which last year won the 64th Jordan Professional League title for the third consecutive year. 

Hamad has underlined his intention to compete and aim for the Asian Champions League. Wihdat concluded their string of new contracts after signing Amer Theeb and veteran striker Abdul Fatah who was playing in Qatar. The team also has Abdullah Theeb, who led Jordan’s U-19 squad to the Youth World Cup in 2007.

Ahli know very well that Wihdat’s experienced line-up have the edge and advantage but are resilient and insist on starting an ambitious season like last year when they were the best overall team.

“We have not had enough friendlies to prepare for the season but we aim to win the Super Cup for the first time,” Maher Bahri was quoted as saying following team practice. Bahri’s team, a long-time veteran and founder of the game in Jordan, were relegated to Division 1 in 2004 for the first time in their history. They were back among the Pro League clubs in 2014, finished 5th in 2014/15 and third in 2015/16 in the Premier League.

Ahli had the best overall percentages. They played a total of 28 matches winning 15, drawing in 6 and losing 7 while scoring 29 goals along the way. Ahli did not allow a single goal in the Jordan Cup. After finishing third in the league, they earned a total of JD80,000 including JD45,000 as Cup champs.

The Jordan Football Association brought the JFA Shield back on the calendar this season starting August 1. League titleholders Wihdat were drawn in Group A while runner-up Faisali head Group B with the top two from each group moving to the semis on September 5 and the winners advancing to the final on September 16.

The Professional League — will kick off on October 22 while the Jordan Cup preliminary round will be held after the conclusion of the U-17 Women’s World Cup and will kick off October 31. 

Last season, Wihdat won their third consecutive league title and 15th title since they moved up to the professional league in 1975. Faisali beat league and Super Cup holders Wihdat 1-0 to clinch the 33rd Super Cup while it was Ahli who were the overall better team of the season. After years in the backstage, Ahli won the third of the season titles when they beat Shabab Urdun to win their first Jordan Cup final. 

The Super Cup has been won by Faisali a record 15 times out of 22 final appearances, Wihdat 12 times, Ramtha and Shabab Urdun twice each, while Jazira and Hussein won once each.

In addition to the local agenda, players will also be busy on national duty as Jordan is set to play seven friendly matches amid preparations for the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers starting March 2017. After putting behind elimination from 2018 World Cup qualifiers, national team coach Abdullah Abu Zam’eh, has recalled mainly younger players including Olympic team players and excluded stars like goalie Amer Shafie, Anas Bani Yasin,  Abdul Fattah and Odey Saifi.