The UAE have ushered in a new era by announcing a squad for their 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Qatar and Iran which includes players from the English and French leagues.
The national team have rarely looked beyond the borders of the Emirates when selecting players in the past.
The 30-man squad for the September internationals includes players drawn from Premier League and Ligue 1 clubs, as well as the fourth tier of English football.
Junior Ndiaye has been called up for the first time. The 19-year-old striker played age-group football for France, where he is on the books of Montpellier.
However, he has now switched his allegiance to the UAE. He was born in Dubai, where his father, Samba, had two seasons as a player with Al Nasr.
Adli Mohamed, a teenaged goalkeeper with Southampton in the UK, is named among four keepers in the squad.
The other new recruit based in the UK is Mackenzie Hunt, a versatile left-sided player who has been in impressive form for Fleetwood Town in England’s League 2 this season.
The Liverpool-born player had been part of the Everton set up until this summer. He was on the bench 20 times last season for the Premier League club, without making it onto the field.
He had been associated with Everton since he was six years old, even though he lived in Dubai for seven years.
He attended Dubai English Speaking School, near Al Nasr’s home stadium in Oud Metha, from Years 4-6, before moving onto secondary school in the city.
After two years at Dubai English Speaking College, he opted to move back to Liverpool to pursue his opportunities with Everton’s academy, and signed professional terms with them when he was 17.
He retains a deep affinity with Dubai, where his father, Mark, still lives and works, and he became a UAE citizen earlier this year.
“It is exciting but I won’t know too much about how it feels until I go and do it,” Hunt told The National earlier this month, about the prospect of representing the country.
“I would be happy and excited to represent the UAE because it feels like home to me in lots of ways.”
Mohamed and Hunt might be newcomers from the UK in the squad, but they are not the only players with an association to Britain. Al Wasl midfielder Ali Saleh’s mother is from Edinburgh.
Whether any of the new players makes the starting XI has yet to be seen, with the squad set to assemble for the first time in Dubai once their club commitments are finished this weekend.
They will then depart for Doha, where they face the 2022 World Cup hosts in the first round of the next phase of Asian qualifying on Thursday.
The UAE topped their group in the second round of Asia’s convoluted qualification process for the 2026 World Cup, which will be played in Mexico, Canada, and the United States.
In the third phase of the process they are in a group with Qatar, Iran, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and North Korea.
They will host Iran at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain on Tuesday, September 10 in the second match in the group.
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
PAST 10 BRITISH GRAND PRIX WINNERS
2016 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-GP)
2015 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-GP)
2014 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-GP)
2013 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes-GP)
2012 - Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing)
2011 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
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2009 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing)
2008 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
2007 - Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Haemoglobin disorders explained
Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.
Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.
The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.
The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.
A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.
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