Ivan Hasek is returning to the scene of "the most beautiful years of my life" after he was yesterday appointed the coach of Al Ahli for the second time.
The Czech, who guided Ahli to the President’s Cup in 2008 and the inaugural Pro League title the following season, stepped down from his post as chairman of the Czech Football Federation on Sunday before announcing his move to the Dubai club.
“I am returning where I belong, to the coach’s profession,” Hasek was quoted as saying on a Czech website after tendering his resignation at the end of the federatzion’s general assembly.
“I will go to the place that I left two years ago, to Al Ahli.”
As revealed in The National on June 12, Ahli decided on Hasek as their first-choice candidate before the end of last season. He was in Dubai to watch the club's last match of 2010/11 and discuss personal terms. Ahli, however, chose to delay announcing his appointment – on a two-year deal – until yesterday.
Hasek, 47, spent one and half years at Ahli during his first spell, and also won the 2009 Super Cup before returning home to contest the elections for the Czech Football Federation presidency.
“I would have loved to continue with Ahli for another season at least, if not longer,” he said at the time of his departure. “The one and a half years I have spent here are the most beautiful of my life.
“But after one and a half years here, I think it is better to leave. Sometimes a change is good for the team and can increase the benefits.”
The changes, however, did not work for Ahli and they have struggled in the past two seasons, finishing eighth both times.
They have been through a coaching carousel during this period, with six different managers in the dugout. The last of them was the high-profile appointment of David O'Leary, the former Aston Villa and Leeds United manager, who was dismissed in April after just nine months in charge.
Ahli hope the return of Hasek, who captained his national team at the 1990 World Cup, will spark a turnaround in fortunes.
“Hasek has worked here before and was very successful with the team,” said Ahmed Khalifa, Ahli’s chief executive. “So he is the best man to lead the club in the new season.
“He is a big name and has a lot of experience, especially of UAE football. We had a very good relationship with him when he was here and that makes him a natural choice.
“Of course, we understand he cannot turn things around in one day and we will support him in everything.”
The former Sparta Prague and Strasbourg manager is expected to start work in the first week of July and one of his first decisions could be regarding the futures of Fabio Cannavaro, the 37-year-old Italian centre-back, and Pinga, the Brazilian forward.
Ahli have already signed two foreign players – the Brazilian strikers Grafite and Jaja Coelho – meaning there is room for only one of their two foreign players from last season under Pro League rules.
Ahli’s two summer signings mean Hasek will also have a decision to make regarding his strike force. Pinga was the club’s top scorer last season while Ahmed Khalil, the UAE forward, is also on Ahli’s books along with his brother Faisal, also an international.
Meanwhile, Jean Manuel Olivera could be Diego Maradona's first foreign signing at Al Wasl.
The club have opened negotiations with the 29-year-old Uruguayan striker, who is currently playing for Penarol in Uruguay.
Olivera played alongside Edson Puch at Universidad de Chile last year and was the top scorer in the league. Puch, the Chile international, signed a four-year deal with Wasl before Maradona's arrival.
According to club sources, Francisco Yeste, the Spaniard who was one of the best players in the league last season, is likely to continue with the club for next season and Mohammed al Shaibah, the Omani international who has two years remaining on his contract, could also be retained given the three-plus-one quota.
Wasl have also started negotiations with Al Wahda for their striker Saeed Al Kathiri and if the deal goes through, he will be their fourth local signing after Hamad Al Hosani, Ali Rabeah and Mubarak Hassan.
They have also brought in Fahad Masoud on a loan from Wahda.
arizvi@thenational.ae
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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match info
Southampton 2 (Ings 32' & pen 89') Tottenham Hotspur 5 (Son 45', 47', 64', & 73', Kane 82')
Man of the match Son Heung-min (Tottenham)
MATCH DETAILS
Juventus 2 (Bonucci 36, Ronaldo 90 6)
Genoa 1 (Kouame 40)
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
