Football season agenda finalised

AMMAN — The 2016/17 football season agenda has been set after much deliberation as officials grappled with scheduling for the start of competitions with national team and upcoming Women’s U-17 World Cup agendas posing a real challenge.

The season is set to kick off on July 29 with the Cup Winner’s Cup between Wihdat and Ahli which will be followed by the Jordan Football Association Shield which is back on the calendar this season starting August 1. The Jordan Cup preliminary round has been delayed until after the U-17 World Cup and will kick off October 31 while the most prestigious event — the Professional League — will start on October 22.

The major obstacle was arranging stadia for four local competitions as well as not disrupting line-up readiness by delaying competitions with teams heading into a long break for the Women’s U-17 World Cup running from September 30 to October 21. Players will also be called for national team duty. With Jordan eliminated from the 2018 World Cup, the national team has a set of friendlies and camps as they prepare for the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers starting in March 2017.

With competitions less than a month away, Wihdat and Faisali, the country’s all-time top two football clubs, as well as Ahli and Jazira are busy boosting their line-ups with the hope of competing locally and regionally.

Reigning league champs 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 on the Asian teams and aim for the Asian Champions League.

Wihdat concluded their string of new contracts after signing Amer Theeb and veteran striker Hasan Abdul Fatah who was playing in Qatar. The team has boosted the line-up Abdullah Theeb, who led Jordan’s U-19 to the World Cup in 2007.

On the other hand, rivals Faisali regrouped under veteran coach Jamal Abu Abed, who will aim to bring back the league title, as well as put the team on competitive track in Asian and regional events.

Abu Abed who led national U-23 in the past two years, has a vision focused on the future squad, and aims to boost the line-up with younger players. Faisali have contracted a number of top players like Shabab Urdun’s Odey Zahran, national team goalie That Ras’ Mutaz Yasin, Ramtha’s Yousef Rawashdeh, Baqa’a’s Anas Amayreh. 

Last season, 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.