Ali Khamis: HBZ International Tournament is not a mere competition
Ali Khamis, Technical Director of Al Ain Football Academy and Chairman of the Technical Committee, said: “When it comes to Hazza bin Zayed U-16 International Football Tournament and the successes it has achieved year after year, we all find that we are facing grand challenges to do our best at the level of competent committees, participating teams and all who is involved in the arrangements of this top-notch event. He underscored the importance of the tournament by saying: “The tournament has is unique to us as athletes and interested in the affairs of the establishment and development of football players skills in UAE. The gains attained by the UAE football sector are boundless due to organizing this tournament, which gains a lot of the Club’s attention and care.”
Ali Khamis said that the draw put the teams of Argentina’s Deportivo Atalaya, Slovak’s Žilina and Al Ain in the first group, while the second group included UK’s Everton, Spain’s Real Betis and Al Jazira. He further explained: “The first and runners up of each group qualify for the semi-finals where the first team of each group will meet the runners up of each group.”
He added: “It was decided to adopt the same technical regulations of the 9th edition held last year. In the event of draw, the two teams will go for penalty kicks directly without playing extra times. This is to boost the level of excitement and points will be by two to one, where the winning team during the original time is to gain 3 points while the team who wins in penalty shoots gets two points instead of one point, but looser will only get one point.”
The Chairman of the Technical Committee announced that practical workshops will be held on the sidelines of the tournament where the technical managers will lecture the participating teams on the methods used in their academies and will be applied practically by U-18 players of Al Ain Club. He stated: “Invitations have already been submitted to all UAE academies and reputable sport figures in coordination with the Abu Dhabi Sports Council and the UAE Football Association.”
Ali Khamis stressed that gains attained through the organization of the tournament are not limited to competition, but that there are memorandums of understanding to be signed among the participating clubs to establish programs for hosting a number of l Ain Academy’s players and coaches. This confirms the fact that it is not only a tournament because the goals are much greater than the concept of competing to win the title. This would be attained through holding the workshops as I mentioned to you and offering our players the opportunities to interact and play against players from different schools and there are cultural and tourist aspects as well.”
