UAE Pro League to Expand

The UAE Pro League is set to expand to fourteen teams. The competition committee will devise a new format in which the two relegated clubs and the two that finished third and fourth in Division One may play in a qualifying event and two teams would win a place in the top division.

“The format and the dates of this play-off will be drawn up by the competition committee and announced shortly,” The FA President, Yousuf Al Serkal, said after an executive committee meeting at their headquarters in Dubai. “A consensus was reached and I believe it provides all four clubs a fair chance to qualify for the Pro League next season. This is a transitional period, hence the play-off is a one-off competition.”

Al Serkal said the 14-team format would be very beneficial for football in the UAE

“More teams and more games will provide more playing opportunities, particularly to the young players. There are a lot of age group players who don’t get an early exposure in the country’s top league,” he said.

“There was a need to play more games and to provide the players a longer season, and by increasing the number of teams to 14 we have achieved that objective to benefit the country’s football.”

Al Serkal said the clubs would also benefit financially from television broadcasts.

The FA has abolished the two-tier system in Division One (the competition below the Pro League).

Division One, which consisted of 16 teams divided into two groups of eight, will now be made up of 14 teams in one league, the same as the Pro League.

An increase in the number of teams in the top flight is one of the criteria laid down by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for participation in the Asian Champions League. The AFC has recommended a minimum of 33 league games per team in the top division.

Other recommendations are the duration of the entire season, including the league, cup and pre-tournament matches to be ten months, with eight months of top division matches.

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