H.H. SHEIKH HAZZA BIN ZAYED SUPPORT AND VISION MAKE AL AIN IN THE FOREFRONT.. AL HAJERI: WE ARE ABOUT TO FINALIZE THE DEAL WITH ZORAN AND AMOORY’S AMBITIONS WITH THE BOSS GO PAST AWAY PROFESSIONALISM
In the open “digital” meeting with the media representatives held at Al Ain FC headquarters, H.E. Ghanem Al Hajeri, Chairman of Al Ain Club Football Company, stressed that the vision, support and care of His Highness Sheikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice-Chairman of the Executive Council, First Vice President of Al Ain Sports and Cultural Club, First Vice President of the Honorary Council & Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al Ain Sports and Cultural Club, are the main elements that stand behind clinching the title of the Arabian Gulf League 2018 for the thirteenth time and to maintain the original shield of the league. He singled out this occasion as “It coincides with the celebrations of the “Boss” with the Golden Jubilee and 50 years of the establishment of this lofty sport entity.”
H.E. Al Hajeri pointed out: “The directives of His Highness Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed have been well-defined since the date we assumed our responsibilities of managing the affairs of the football council. We are tasked to be at a leading position among competitors to win titles in all sport games and not just football. Indeed, winning the title of the AGL 2018 is the first step of our quest to achieve under the guidance of his leadership.”
In the meeting, Al Hajeri also revealed that the Board of Directors of Al Ain Club faced massive challenges in order to present a different model in tandem with the Year of Zayed and to achieve the desired goals. He stated: “We were tasked in the first season to reorganize and rearrange the internal affairs as a priority. In the following season, we were tasked to take the necessary measures to achieve the pre-set goals considering that competing to win the title of the AGL as a constant priority for the team.”
Mr. Chairman of Al Ain Club Football Company revealed that he accepted all arrows of criticism with open arms during the past period while describing that as a plan or policy save the team from any pressures and to distract others from tackling the team and it did work successfully taking into account the current results and performance. He said: “After the UAE National Team returned back following the end of the Gulf Cup 2018 and all the negative atmosphere and criticism which had a negative impact over the players of Al Ain FC who constitute the majority of the team, I was keen to post tweets on my personal official account and not the account of the club. In my tweets, I did not generalize but stated “certain people”. Regardless of that, criticism was limited to me personally while the team got the necessary tranquility as they are scheduled to play a very important away match against in few days after the end of the Gulf Cup. Since then, the team’s performance was progressing successfully at the local level and even in the Asian competition. The team was successful to move ahead and achieve their set goals. By the end of the day, we consider all types of mass media whether the written, visual and audio are our partners and never there was any personal issues but it was a policy to keep the team from any distractions to achieve our goals through by diverting attention of others to the other side and to receive all criticism as the leader of this company. Indeed, I and media are “friends”.”
AMOORY WILL NOT LEAVE AL AIN
Commenting on a question on the Club’s standing as to renew Amoory’s contract, Al Hajeri reassured Al Ain fans that Omar Abdul Rahman will stay in the squad next season. He stated: “Amoory is a valuable asset to the team and if he joins another non-UAE team as a professional he will be able to show his high quality. However, the goals of the Captain of Al Ain FC is much higher than any external goal and he is staying with us.”
CRITICIZING ZORAN
“I believe that Zoran Mamic, who was a subject of severe criticism in the beginning of the season, as to his approach of addressing the team’s technical issues. As a matter of fact, that was not fair at all as he later on was able to prove his quality potentials as a head coach,” said Al Hajeri. He added: “The Board of Directors has a full confidence in him and we cannot assess his achievements within only a match of 90 minutes or even two or three matches. actually, there are other things to be taken into account before judging his performance, such as: his ability to deal with a constellation of stars which the team has in the changing room, his success in pushing the players to the limit by assigning new positions to the players, adopting the policy of rotation which is not easy at all , giving the newly promoted young players as per our prior agreement with him and boosting the level of scoring goals which the team’s did achieve in the current season. His new contract is 90% ready based on mutual agreement.”
DOUGLAS AND EL SHAHAT
Al Hajeri explained that replacing foreign players in the middle of the season is a great risk, but Al Ain has been lucky enough to make use of the winter transfer window following taking the decision to replace Brazil’s Douglas by the international “Egyptian” Hussein El Shahat in accordance with the mechanism adopted by the Club’s management in terms of signing any contract or releasing any player. He stressed: “There is no one man show when taking such a decision and those who try say that they played a key role in selecting a certain player of signing a contract with him are not saying the right thing; it is totally not true.”
He added: “As for El Shahat, he was not a priority for Al Ain but was one of the options among other players before taking a final decision to join him to the team in accordance with the adopted technical mechanism. This included taking into account the head coach’s report, the approval of the Technical Committee, the approval of the Board of Directors and then the final approval of His Highness the Chairman.” As for the actual value of the player’s contract, Al Hajeri said: “Nothing to say about the player’s quality and skills, but Al Ain led the player to play in his national team. We faced unbelievable promotion campaigns in the middle of the competition and attaching unreal amounts to the financial value of the player and offers with unrealistic financial figures that ranged between $ 6 million and other numbers of $ 3 million and $ 4 million. However, Al Ain was successful in concluding the deal in the amount that suits the two parties.”
UAE NATIONAL TEAM IS A PRIORITY
Al Hajeri explained that the UAE National Team is a priority for Al Ain Club while stressing that the “Boss” is the biggest supporter of the “Whites”. He said: “We have currently nearly 10 players who joined our national team and the Club was able to introduce new players to the team such as Rayan Yaslam. As for the financial cost, Al Ain players’ salaries are the highest given the number of the team’s players who play for the national team which range between 3 to 4 million dirhams per month during the period they were playing to the national team.”
THE DEAREST FINAL MATCH
With regard to the final match of the President’s Cup, Al Hajeri stressed that due to the efforts of the technical and administrative staffs, Al Ain’s players turned to be more mature with regard to the separation between the tournaments and to have the set of minds of focusing with the same level of desire to clinch more titles. He pointed out: “Al Wasl is so eager to win the title of the President’s Cup following their failure to win any other titles, given that he was the champ of the winter season and this exerts lots of pressure on the Ainawi players to deal with the match with full concentration.”
THE AINAWI NATION IS VICTORIES’ FUEL
Al Hajeri said that Al Ain fans are the core reason for winning titles mainly due to their massive and great presence behind the team in all matches and events. “We are so lucky to have such loyal and loving fans who stands next to the team in all circumstances,” said he.
THE GOLDEN GENERATION
Al Hajeri stressed that he and his team in the Board of Directors are fully responsible both in realizing the achievements and in the event of any failures. He said, “There is no one-man-show in taking decisions and this agreed upon since day one of assuming our responsibilities. Additionally, failure to achieve the set goals means we are to quit.” He added: “In the first year we have arranged our internal issues and in the second year we set our priority to compete to win the title of the AGL. Once we were not able to achieve these goals, it was agreed to quit and leave the opportunity to other lovers of Al Ain capable of accomplish the mission. We do love challenges and always accept them as a way to realize achievements based on the belief that titles are won only through diligence and hard work.”
Al Hajeri considers the existence of huge number of stars in the team is a pressure to achieve the best in all competitions, especially through pushing players to the limit and to invest in them successfully. “We have to take the advantage of such elite golden generation that we might not have again in the near future. This is why we are trying our best to write a new history through great victories,” said he.
PAID MEDIA INTERVIEWS
Al Hajeri explained that Al Ain has become a brand and enjoys stunning reputation and massive followers including Ainawi fans and other observers of the sport activities. He underlined: “This makes the management to keep on fulfilling its obligations against contracts concluded with owners of exclusive rights and sponsors in press conferences and other activities but the rest of information, news and “exclusive” interviews will be paid ones. Any interview with any member of the Club not included with the scheduled interviews and considered an obligation that Al Ain Club has to meet, there will be another department who will arrange for that. He stated: “Al Ain has the ambition to become the highest-income brand in the Gulf region.”
THE WINNER OF THE HIGHEST POINTS IN ASIA CHAMPIONSHIP
Al Hajeri explained that the Asian championship is a permanent target for Al Ain. He stated: “Despite participating in the AFC Champions League while holding the fifth place in the standing of the last year’s AGL and suffering from numerous injuries at the beginning of the Asian journey, but the team dealt with this competition as one of the main goals.” He underscored: “Al Ain, in view of the past 15 years, is the team with the highest points compared to the number of the matches played by the team and the results achieved taking into account the that team is the first Emirati team to win the title of the new edition of the AFC Champions League.”
A WISE DECISION ENHANCES THE TALENT BASE
Al Hajeri said that the adoption of the executive regulations for the participation of children of Emirati females, UAE passport holders, players born in UAE and residents by the Cabinet to be registered in the official sports competitions of the various collective and individual games is a wise decision taken by the wise leadership of UAE. He commented on the impact of the decision by saying: “This decision will enhance the talent base by benefiting from 80% of UAE society instead of the current percentage of 20% and contributes to the enhancing the loyalty of all those who resides on the lands of our blessed country.”
Al Hajeri revealed that he requested to involve the children of Emirati females and residents in sports competitions when he was the Chairman of UAE Handball Association nearly five years ago and that he requested to have a foreign player in UAE volleyball teams while being a member of UAE Volleyball Association.
AL AIN’S GOLDEN JUBILEE SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS
Al Hajeri revealed that there will be special arrangements to mark Al Ain’s celebrations of its Golden Jubilee which will be announced in the very near future through special committees formed in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Sports Council.
