The date of October 22, 2010, might not mean much to the vast majority of UAE football fans, but it was a significant one all the same – especially for me.
It was on that date that the first English language commentary of the Pro League was broadcast.
Al Jazira beat Al Wasl 3-1 at the Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Why is that date so important to me? Because I had the privilege of doing that maiden commentary.
This week I had cause to double-check the date as the league got ready for the start of the 2026/27 season. Because of family reasons, I will not be behind the microphone for domestic action this term, something I am still coming to terms with.
Sixteen years is a long time to be following anything, let alone commentating on one league. But I can honestly say I have loved every minute of it – even the lengthy drives to Al Dhafra in the far southwest of the country. I was comforted on each visit by the pigeons that nested above the commentary box and seemed to coo every time the home team scored.
In the period since 2010, when I was approached to commentate on one match per week by the far-sighted CEO of the Pro League at the time, Carlo Nohra, some things have changed and some have stayed the same.
Clubs still prefer Brazilians as overseas players, but now an increasing number of foreign players are settling here, becoming Emirati citizens and bolstering the national men’s team.
With so many non-Emirati children either born or brought up in this country and identifying with it as their home, this has been a great step forward. Mackenzie Hunt’s UAE debut in 2024, having been schooled at DESS in Dubai, really was a significant moment for the sport. As the saying goes: “If you can see it, you can be it.”
The national team and their attempts to reach the World Cup finals for only the second time and the first since 1990 have been an obsession.
There have been many false dawns — and numerous changes of coach — but no repeat of that achievement. The decorated Croat Zlatko Dalic arrived this week as the latest man to try.
The UAE had a so-called "golden generation" of players who earned qualification for the Olympic Games in 2012 and won the Arabian Gulf Cup the following year in Bahrain. The final of that competition was broadcast live, with English commentary by me on Dubai One.
But reaching the World Cup finals has been a step too far for a host of players and coaches, even if the qualifiers, a gruelling marathon in the Asian region, have still created some wonderful highlights and memories.
Take the latest cycle, for example, with an unlikely 3-1 win over Qatar in Doha - a match where the UAE were outplayed for an hour - followed by a 5-0 thumping of the same opponents in Abu Dhabi, with Fabio De Lima scoring four of them. Qatar still had the last laugh, though, qualifying for the tournament at the UAE’s expense.
One thing the failures of the UAE men's team have shown is that near-constant change does not work. The merry-go-round of coaches - there have been 14 in the past 16 years, and that includes one, Mahdi Ali, who held the role for five years - does not bring success. The same has been true in my time watching domestic football, too.
That first season of English commentary in 2010/11 saw the culmination of Al Jazira’s three-year plan to win the league title under Brazilian Abel Braga. But few sides since then have tried to follow that patient model and have instead opted for an attempt at 'jam today'.
The leading sides have usually been the ones who have stayed the course in coaching, including the Cosmin Olaroiu-inspired Al Ain side of the early to mid-2010s, still the only team to retain the Pro League title in the professional era.
That side had the attacking quality of Asamoah Gyan, who showed himself to be far too good for UAE football at the time, and it was a pleasure to watch that team in action.
My abiding memories of UAE club teams during my time at the microphone are their successes in Asian competition – with Al Ain, under Alfred Schreuder and then Hernan Crespo, winning the Champions League in 2023/24, and Sharjah triumphing in the Champions League 2 the following season. The latter success gave Olaroiu, the predominant coach across three teams (Al Ain, Al Ahli, Sharjah and now a fourth with Al Jazira) in the modern era, the one thing missing on his CV – a continental trophy.
Anyone who was at either the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium to see Al Ain triumph, or the Sharjah Stadium for the semi-final second leg when the home side scored twice in added time to beat Al Taawoun of Saudi Arabia, will never forget those moments. I certainly will not.
There is a recognition now that football in the UAE needs to embrace the vast expatriate army of potential players and fans, and that recognition is behind the expanded coverage of the game.
Now fans, not only in the UAE but across the world, can watch every match of every round of the Adnoc Pro League with English commentary.
There are highlights and analysis shows, and even a match of the week that includes pitch-side interviews and pundits, including former midfielder Ibrahim Diaky.
To bring things full circle, it was Diaky who scored twice for Jazira in that landmark match against Al Wasl all the way back in October 2010.
