The increasingly bitter rivalry between Al Ain and Al Ahli was the story of last season in domestic UAE football, and it looks like it will be the story of the coming one, too.
The season included coach Cosmin Olaroiu’s defection to the latter, lawsuits, ill-tempered matches and Ahli winning the Arabian Gulf League title to end the recent dominance of Al Ain.
Thankfully, next season feels less acrimonious than the last – so far, at least. The narrative, though, looks set to continue.
This season, the clubs are eyeing different routes to success; revolution at Al Ain, stability at Al Ahli.
Last week, the Romanian midfielder Mirel Radoi left the former to join his old boss and compatriot Olaroiu at Rashid Stadium.
Unlike Olaroiu, Radoi had been released by Al Ain at the end of last season, so accusations of betrayal this time around do not stand. Still, Al Ain’s fans will not be delighted that their former player joined the reigning champions.
The decision to acquire a player who brings a wealth of experience on a free transfer was a no-brainer for the Al Ahli coach.
Radoi is an Olaroiu man, having previously played under the coach at Al Ain and Steaua Bucharest in Romania.
But in many ways, it was an understandable decision for Al Ain’s coach to let him go, just as it was for Olaroiu to grab him.
After last season’s dismal league campaign, Zlatko Dalic had no option but to revamp a squad that finished sixth in the table, 21 points behind Ahli.
He has gone about that task in a decisive manner. With the exception of Ghanian World Cup star Asamoah Gyan, out went the club’s foreign contingent of Radoi, the Moroccan Yassine El Ghanassy and Alex Brosque of Australia.
The three new players are comparatively young. Miroslav Stoch, 24, of Slovakia from Turkish club Fenerbahce, joins Korean Lee Myong-joo, also 24, from Pohang Steelers, and Al Wasl’s 23-year-old Rashid Essa, who is on a one-year loan.
Dalic hopes to improve the squad, while at the same time, significantly lowering its average age.
The three relatively experienced internationals were bought with a view of playing a part in what Dalic promises will be a different style, with “faster rhythm”, over the coming season.
He also predicts that the return of Jires Kembo, a player who was on loan at Al Jaish, will be another major factor in shaping a team in his own image after only three months in charge last season.
Dalic’s youth policy will be supplemented by the presence of the club’s two star players, Gyan and Omar Abdulrahman. And by experience too.
Radoi will perform a similar job at Ahli, a team whose five foreign players are, in stark contrast to their rivals, over age 30.
That experience should ensure that the shift in power may take a while longer to reverse for Al Ain.
Ahli may have performed poorly in the Asian Champions League group stage – becoming the only Emirati club not to make the knockout stages – but even that disappointment has a silver lining.
Al Ain have the distraction of facing two-legged quarter-final legs against Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia next month, and potentially more continental fixtures after that.
By contrast, Al Ahli can concentrate their efforts until the end of the year on the three domestic trophies they came so close to claiming last season.
Olaroiu will also feel his squad is more settled than their rivals’, and can call on the trusted foreign trio of Grafite, Luis Jimenez, and Ciel.
Radoi is Ahli’s only summer signing, and there is still time for the club to make other moves in the market.
Still, it is hard to see Al Ain’s brave new world upsetting Al Ahli’s well-oiled machine. Expect Olaroiu to once again be wearing a big smile next May.
akhaled@thenational.ae
Follow us on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
'Panga'
Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta
Rating: 3.5/5
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
The specs
Engine: 8.0-litre, quad-turbo 16-cylinder
Transmission: 7-speed auto
0-100kmh 2.3 seconds
0-200kmh 5.5 seconds
0-300kmh 11.6 seconds
Power: 1500hp
Torque: 1600Nm
Price: Dh13,400,000
On sale: now
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
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
