DUBAI // It is safe to assume Arsene Wenger has never heard of an Emirati club called Al Shabab. The Arsenal manage may know about Al Ain because of a certain Omar Abdulrahman. Or Asamoah Gyan.
Shabab have no such player to bring international attention but, still, if there is one club in the Arabian Gulf League that could get Wenger’s wholehearted approval, it would be them.
Shabab echo Wenger’s parsimonious transfer policies like no other UAE side. This summer was the best illustration of that.
Ciel was the equivalent of Thierry Henry for Shabab and Walid Abbas their Cesc Fabregas, and yet they had no qualms about cashing in on both of them at once.
The club’s fans were stunned and upset, and the team’s chances of challenging the big guns were immediately marked down. Shabab, however, remained positive, bringing in an unheralded Brazilian striker, Adeilson, to replace Ciel.
“Adeilson was the one we wanted and he’s available now,” Obaid Hubaitha, the Shabab team manager, said. “We lost Ciel, but he’s similar to him. He plays as a left winger or on the right, is both-footed and good with his head. He’s tall and fast, also, so he’s exactly what we were looking for.”
The Shabab coach Marcos Paqueta added: “Ciel has done a great job for the team and has won great popularity.
“But his departure does not mean the end of the team. We are confident in the group that we have and we are confident that Adeilson will be able to fill the vacuum left by Ciel’s departure.”
Not many people must have shared that optimism in August. Adeilson, 27, had far from an impressive resume. He had turned out for seven teams since 2009, when he was signed by the French club Nice, and he had failed to keep a place in any of them.
But then, Ciel had turned out for nine clubs in the two years before his arrival at Shabab and subsequent high production.
As Shabab started their season with a 1-0 loss at home to Al Wasl and a scoreless draw at Ajman in the League Cup, sceptics nodded knowingly.
Club fans once again questioned the decision to sell Ciel and Abbas, and the management were clearly under pressure. The start of the league, however, turned things around.
Shabab outplayed the two-time defending champions Al Ain 3-1 in their opening game and then returned with three points from Sharjah, as well.
“These two wins are very important for the team as it will ease some of the public pressure that we have been facing since the decision to sell Ciel and Walid Abbas,” said Sami Ahmed Al Qamzi, the chairman of the club’s board of directors. “Personally, I did not have any doubts about the team, even for a single moment, after the deal for those two players.
“But we had been in dire need of some kind words and we have managed to earn that now with these two wins.
“Now people are talking positively about Shabab and the team has managed to win back the confidence of our fans.”
With three goals in their first two games, including two against Al Ain, Adeilson seems to be an astute signing. And he is set to replace Ciel as the darling of the Shabab fans, if he has not done so already. But Al Qamzi insists his team is not about one player. Their battling performance at Sharjah, and the five yellow cards, is proof of that.
“Once again, we have shown that all our players are stars,” Al Qamzi said.
With two wins from their first two games, Shabab are off to their best start in the league since it turned professional in 2008/09.
The last time they started with two wins on the trot, in 2007/08, they had gone on to win the league title for the first time since 1995.
Al Qamzi, however, is not willing to make any predictions for this season or set any targets.
“For now, our focus is on gathering as many points as we can and finding consistency in the level of our performance,” he said. “There is still a long road ahead and we are thinking about winning the championship.
“We are realistic in setting our targets after the changes we made in the summer, and I salute the players for that.”
Wenger, if he were to ever read this, would be nodding in approval.
arizvi@thenational.ae
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French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, last-16 second leg
Paris Saint-Germain (1) v Borussia Dortmund (2)
Kick-off: Midnight, Thursday, March 12
Stadium: Parc des Princes
Live: On beIN Sports HD
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GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
Skoda Superb Specs
Engine: 2-litre TSI petrol
Power: 190hp
Torque: 320Nm
Price: From Dh147,000
Available: Now
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.
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.
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
'Top Gun: Maverick'
Rating: 4/5
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Ed Harris
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
The specs: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
Price, base: Dh1,731,672
Engine: 6.5-litre V12
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 770hp @ 8,500rpm
Torque: 720Nm @ 6,750rpm
Fuel economy: 19.6L / 100km
Results
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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
