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Dubai: The implementation of the first professional league next season, and the signing of the agreement between the UAE football association and the professional league committee, has been met with optimism.
Ali Bu Jsaim the retired Fifa referee who officiated in three world cups and the current FA board member and the referees committee chairman said that it is a gigantic step to develop football in the UAE.
"It's a huge step to develop football in the country. But its benefits will not be seen from the first season, it needs time and the coming generations will benefit from it," Bu Jsaim told Gulf News. Bu Jsaim said that the clubs number could be raised from 12 to 14 after two years so that the players can play more matches as far as they are professionals.
The UAE referees committee chairman said the referees must also develop to go along with the new league.
Relegated
"We submitted to the FA yesterday the new structure to develop the referees standards to go along with the professional league." He said that the referees will belong to the FA and not to the professional league committee.
"We will implement in the coming weeks the referees association, which will be responsible for every thing concerning the referees. The association will be elected by the referees in their general assembly," said Bu Jsaim.
Adnan Taliyani the UAE footballer of the century claimed that the future of UAE football will be marvellous after the signing of the agreement. "Most of the players turned professional three years ago and implementing the Professional league will contribute in developing the their talents.
"The competition will be tough between all the clubs especially after the good standard showed in the current season by the clubs which we thought would be relegated, however they proved they are strong enough to stay in the first division," Taliyani said.
Mohammad Jalfar, the Al Nasr club board deputy chairman and the president of the Volleyball Association, said that its a step in the right direction. "This will be a big boost for the UAE football. I do not want to say that it came a bit late, but we have to make the change in our thinking of professionalism to help us make the difference from amateur to professional."
The VA president said that taking such a step to change volleyball players to become professionals is not possible now.
Other sports
"The clubs have to provide the financial support for such a step in volleyball. Now it is difficult to turn the other sports such as volleyball, handball and basketball into professionals, due to the clubs financial conditions," Jalfar said.
Khalid Esmail, the first UAE player to score a goal in the World Cup Finals when he scored against Germany in the World Cup Finals Italy 1990, said that this move to implement the professional league in the coming season came late and should have been implemented a long time ago.
"As soon as we turned our players professional, we should also have implemented the professional league before the Asian Football Confederation asked us to do so. We have all the capabilities for the professional league, stadiums, marketing, TV rights and spectators."
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