Interesting and positive news from the United Arab Emirates! As reported in this article, the local FA is showing the intention to launch a local futsal league for the first ever time, with a warm-up tournament introducing the competition. Have a look at the lines in bold at the bottom of the report!

Also, it's good to see that, at least in the UAE federation, have understood that futsal and beach soccer are quite different and have to be managed in two different committes (how can futsal be together with a sport in which the ball has a random rebound on the beach, oh gosh!)...


Courtesy: Gulf News


UAE squad to train in Switzerland

By Sayed Ali, Senior Reporter

July 08, 2008

Dubai: The UAE Football Association's board of directors approved the preparation programme of the national team for the World Cup qualifiers in September.

Mohammad Khalfan Al Rumaithi, the board President, chaired the meeting in which they accepted the recommendations of the technical committee regarding the preparations.

The first round of preparation starts on August 3 with a training camp inCrans Montana in Switzerland until August 18. They then leave for France to play a warm-up match against Algeria on 20th.

The team return to the UAE on August 24 to fine-tune their preparations for the first match in the World Cup qualifiers against North Korea on September 6 at the Mohammad Bin Zayed stadium in Abu Dhabi.

UAE meet Saudi Arabia in the second match of the qualifiers on September 10, also in the capital.

The FA board accepted the invitation of the under-19 team in a friendly tournament, to be held in Prague from August 20 to 28 in preparation for the Asia youth championships in Saudi Arabia at the end of October.

New-look league

The board decided to form the second division at the end of the coming season after the existing second division becomes first division as the current first division would become the professional league.

The two relegated clubs from the professional league, in addition to the teams who come from third to eighth in the first division league, will form the first division.

The teams who come from ninth to 16th will form the second division starting from the season 2009-2010.

There will be, hence, three divisions in the UAE soccer from the season 2009-2010: 1- Professional league (12 clubs). 2- First division (8 clubs). 3-Second division (8 clubs).

The board, meanwhile, agreed to send six UAE Fifa referees to Italy and Spain to participate in the referees' courses to develop their skills.

The courses will be organised by the Italian and Spanish football associations.

The FA board will also launch the futsal league from next year and asked the interested clubs to send their approval.

The board also decided to organise a warm-up futsal tournament in the coming November for the desirous clubs.

The FA board of directors named the chairmen and members of the different committees in their meeting. Following are the officials:


Mohammad Khalfan Al Rumaithi: Legal committee
Younis Hajji Khoury: Finance committee
Mohammad Mattar Ghorab: Tournaments committee
Khalid Abdullah Bin Faris: Technical and Development committee
Saeed Abdullah Ebrahim: Referees Committee
Abdul Wahab Ahmad Al Ahmad: Marketing committee
Sileem Surour Al Shamsi: Players Status and Transfers committee
Mohammad Mattar Ghorab: Ladies Football committee
Obaid Saeed Al Shamssi: Futsal committee
Rashid Ali Hamad Al Zaabi: Beach Soccer committee
Saeed Abdul Gaffar Hussain: Supporting Amateur Clubs and Constructions Development committee.






Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com