It’s been quite a year for Ali Mabkhout. On Sunday, the UAE international striker capped a sensational season when he was named 2014/15 Emirati Player of Season at the Arabian Gulf Awards in Abu Dhabi.
He was also named in the AGL Team of the Season alongside fellow national team players Khalid Eissa, Mohanad Salem, Khamis Ismail and Ismail Al Hammadi.
“After such a long season, I’m grateful to have won these awards,” Mabkhout said at the awards ceremony at the St Regis Hotel on Saadiyat Island. “But for me this is all in the past now. I’m already thinking about next season and hopefully it will be a successful one for Al Jazira.”
A year ago, the Abu Dhabi club signed the Montenegrin striker Mirko Vucinic from Juventus and many wondered what impact his arrival would have on the team’s main Emirati striker.
But the partnership could hardly have worked out better. Playing next to Vucinic elevated Mabkhout to a new level in what turned out to be the best season of his career so far.
He scored 16 goals in the AGL and finished top scorer at both the 2014 Gulf Cup of Nations in Saudi Arabia and the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia, scoring five goals in each as the UAE reached the semis of both competitions.
Vucinic finished top scorer in the AGL with 25 goals and won the Best Foreign Player award.
Mabkhout’s future has been the subject of recent speculation but, for now, he is preparing for the new season with his teammates under returning manager Abel Braga. Jazira ended last season empty-handed, leading to the dismissal of Eric Gerets. “We want to win everything,” Mabkhout says of the team’s targets this season.
Mabkhout and Vucinic may have helped Al Jazira to the league’s highest goal tally of 66, but the defence leaked 46 at the other end, third worst in the league.
In an effort to address the problem South Korean defender Park Jong-woo has been signed from Chinese Super League club Guangzhou, making him the club’s third foreigner alongside Vucinic and Brazilian signing Thiago Neves, who joined last month from Al Hilal.
Rumours of Mabkhout playing abroad are unlikely to go away if he maintains his form of the past 12 months.
Following the Asian Cup, newspaper reports linked him with a move to Germany after he, in direct contrast to Omar Abdulrahman, expressed a desire to play abroad at some point in his career. Since then there has also been rumours of an approach by Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal.
By the end of the 2015/16 season, Mabkhout will be 25 and entering his prime. It could be the perfect time for him to become the first high-profile Emirati to make a permanent move abroad.
For now he is coy on the subject but a few more medals and personal awards and Al Jazira will find it increasingly hard to hold onto their prized Emirati asset.
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Schedule
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
RACECARD
%3Cp%3E5pm%3A%20Al%20Shamkha%20%E2%80%93%20Maiden%20(PA)%20Dh80%2C000%20(Turf)%201%2C400m%0D%3Cbr%3E5.30pm%3A%20Khalifa%20City%20%E2%80%93%20Handicap%20(PA)%20Dh80%2C000%20(T)%201%2C400m%0D%3Cbr%3E6pm%3A%20Masdar%20City%20%E2%80%93%20Handicap%20(PA)%20Dh80%2C000%20(T)%201%2C600m%0D%3Cbr%3E6.30pm%3A%20Wathba%20Stallions%20Cup%20%E2%80%93%20Handicap%20(PA)%20Dh70%2C000%20(T)%202%2C200m%0D%3Cbr%3E7pm%3A%20Emirates%20Championship%20%E2%80%93%20Group%201%20(PA)%20Dh1%2C000%2C000%20(T)%202%2C200m%0D%3Cbr%3E7.30pm%3A%20Shakbout%20City%20%E2%80%93%20Handicap%20(TB)%20Dh80%2C000%20(T)%202%2C400m%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Results:
Women:
1. Rhiannan Iffland (AUS) 322.95 points
2. Lysanne Richard (CAN) 285.75
3. Ellie Smart (USA) 277.70
Men:
1. Gary Hunt (GBR) 431.55
2. Constantin Popovici (ROU) 424.65
3. Oleksiy Prygorov (UKR) 392.30
the pledge
I pledge to uphold the duty of tolerance
I pledge to take a first stand against hate and injustice
I pledge to respect and accept people whose abilities, beliefs and culture are different from my own
I pledge to wish for others what I wish for myself
I pledge to live in harmony with my community
I pledge to always be open to dialogue and forgiveness
I pledge to do my part to create peace for all
I pledge to exercise benevolence and choose kindness in all my dealings with my community
I pledge to always stand up for these values: Zayed's values for tolerance and human fraternity
How to tell if your child is being bullied at school
Sudden change in behaviour or displays higher levels of stress or anxiety
Shows signs of depression or isolation
Ability to sleep well diminishes
Academic performance begins to deteriorate
Changes in eating habits
Struggles to concentrate
Refuses to go to school
Behaviour changes and is aggressive towards siblings
Begins to use language they do not normally use
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich 1
Kimmich (27')
Real Madrid 2
Marcelo (43'), Asensio (56')
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
Bombshell
Director: Jay Roach
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie
Four out of five stars
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Oscars in the UAE
The 90th Academy Awards will be aired in the UAE from 3.30am on Monday, March 5 on OSN, with the ceremony starting at 5am
Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
