As Abu Dhabi Country Club (ADCC) get set to make history for the UAE and the Arab region by competing in the inaugural AFC Women’s Champions League on Thursday, star midfielder Nouf Al Anzi says she and her teammates are ready to “leave every single drop of sweat on the pitch” in their chase of a quarter-final spot.
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
Serial UAE champions ADCC earned their place in the group stage of the Champions League by winning all three games they contested in the preliminary round in late August in Riyadh, defeating Laos’ Young Elephants, Myanmar’s Myawady, and Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr.
In doing so, ADCC became the first Arab club to reach the maiden edition of the continental showpiece, which features 12 of the top women’s football teams in Asia, split across three groups.
“Raising the flag and playing for the UAE, representing the UAE on an international stage is a great pride that we feel very honoured to be able to do,” Al Anzi, 27, told The National on Tuesday. “I’m very excited and looking forward to the matches. We’re on a Champions League level, so the level of the matches is higher, the level of the teams and players is higher.
“I feel like these are the type of games that all players aim for, being at the highest level, so we’re all looking forward to it. Insha’Allah we’ll leave every single drop of sweat on the pitch, we’re going to give it our all and God willing we’ll be able to grab one of the tickets to the quarter-finals.”
ADCC are in Group A alongside Wuhan Jiangda of China, South Korea’s Incheon Red Angels, and Sabah FA of Malaysia. They will begin their campaign on Thursday against the hosts at Hankou Culture Sports Centre in Wuhan.
The format features a centralised group stage, with Group A games taking place in Wuhan, Group B in Pathum Thani, Thailand, and Group C in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam between October 3 and 12. The top two in each group, along with the two best third-placed teams, will qualify for the quarter-finals.
It’s taken a long time for Asia to have its own continental women’s football club competition and it comes on the heels of the establishment of the CAF Women’s Champions League, which launched in 2021 and is now in its fourth edition.
“The AFC Women’s Champions League coming to life is a huge step towards the development of women’s football on the continent,” said Al Anzi.
“It motivates the countries and the clubs in the region to work harder and to develop their respective women’s programmes. Also to motivate clubs to qualify for these kinds of competitions, to compete with the highest level of clubs and teams and players. So, I think this will soon show its results.”
Al Anzi has been making history for UAE football ever since she was called up to the national team at just 17 years old. In 2018, she became the first Emirati woman to play professional football abroad when she signed with Egyptian giants Wadi Degla.
In 2022, Al Anzi made another unprecedented move by signing for Spanish club Leganes, becoming the first woman from her country to play for a European side. The midfielder moved to Cornella the following season, with whom she won the Tercera Federacion league title.
She is now keen to write a new chapter for herself in the history books, this time with her home team of ADCC, whom she joined in July.
“I’ve had very happy moments this year, and for next year I’m aiming to have more achievements with the club and the national team, as well as helping and inspiring young girls in the country with the development of football that the UAE women’s football committee is working on,” said Al Anzi.
Playing a part in the progress of women’s football in the Arab region is something Al Anzi does not take lightly and she knows she has joined a big club, in ADCC, that has won every single domestic league title since the inception of the UAE women’s football league in 2012.
“It means a lot for all of us to be able to represent the UAE and the region as a whole, as the only Arab team to qualify for the Asian Champions League, so I think this is history being made for us and Insha’Allah we will further make everyone proud. We created history, which is really amazing,” said Al Anzi.
“Whether it was a player on the starting XI, or on the bench, or players who played a few minutes – the unity of the team and the spirit made all the difference. Of course with the help and the support of our families and friends as well. We had a nice surprise, we had friends coming over from the UAE to watch our games in Riyadh, so it was a collective effort to get here.”
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The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct to Kolkata from Dh1,504 and Dh1,450 return including taxes, respectively. The flight takes four hours 30 minutes outbound and 5 hours 30 minute returning.
The trains
Numerous trains link Kolkata and Murshidabad but the daily early morning Hazarduari Express (3’ 52”) is the fastest and most convenient; this service also stops in Plassey. The return train departs Murshidabad late afternoon. Though just about feasible as a day trip, staying overnight is recommended.
The hotels
Mursidabad’s hotels are less than modest but Berhampore, 11km south, offers more accommodation and facilities (and the Hazarduari Express also pauses here). Try Hotel The Fame, with an array of rooms from doubles at Rs1,596/Dh90 to a ‘grand presidential suite’ at Rs7,854/Dh443.
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Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
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Non-profit arts studio Tashkeel launched this annual initiative with the intention of supporting budding designers in the UAE. This year, three talents were chosen from hundreds of applicants to be a part of the sixth creative development programme. These are architect Abdulla Al Mulla, interior designer Lana El Samman and graphic designer Yara Habib.
The trio have been guided by experts from the industry over the course of nine months, as they developed their own products that merge their unique styles with traditional elements of Emirati design. This includes laboratory sessions, experimental and collaborative practice, investigation of new business models and evaluation.
It is led by British contemporary design project specialist Helen Voce and mentor Kevin Badni, and offers participants access to experts from across the world, including the likes of UK designer Gareth Neal and multidisciplinary designer and entrepreneur, Sheikh Salem Al Qassimi.
The final pieces are being revealed in a worldwide limited-edition release on the first day of Downtown Designs at Dubai Design Week 2019. Tashkeel will be at stand E31 at the exhibition.
Lisa Ball-Lechgar, deputy director of Tashkeel, said: “The diversity and calibre of the applicants this year … is reflective of the dynamic change that the UAE art and design industry is witnessing, with young creators resolute in making their bold design ideas a reality.”
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Best Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Best Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta)
Best Referee: Gianluca Rocchi
Best Goal: Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria vs Napoli)
Best Team: Atalanta
Best XI: Samir Handanovic (Inter); Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Joao Cancelo (Juventus*); Miralem Pjanic (Juventus), Josip Ilicic (Atalanta), Nicolo Barella (Cagliari*); Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Duvan Zapata (Atalanta)
Serie B Best Young Player: Sandro Tonali (Brescia)
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Best Women’s XI: Laura Giuliani (Milan); Alia Guagni (Fiorentina), Sara Gama (Juventus), Cecilia Salvai (Juventus), Elisa Bartoli (Roma); Aurora Galli (Juventus), Manuela Giugliano (Roma), Valentina Cernoia (Juventus); Valentina Giacinti (Milan), Ilaria Mauro (Fiorentina), Barbara Bonansea (Juventus)
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ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
