The champions of Asia will be decided by a new finals phase competition in Jeddah over the next eight days.
Gone are the two-legged, home and away finals of the AFC Champions League Elite’s recent past.
Instead, the quarter-finalists have all congregated in the Saudi port city for a snappy, centralised knockout event, with the final to be played on Saturday, May 3.
Some of the sides – like Riyadh superpower Al Hilal – are perennial contenders, but the three Saudi teams will face some challenges over the coming days.
Al Hilal
Manager: Jorge Jesus
Key player: Sergej Milinkovic-Savic
A club with such massive expectations cannot afford to slip up. Fail in this competition, and Jorge Jesus might well be out of a job, despite overseeing a record winning run and a domestic double last season.
Hilal – who are like the Real Madrid of Asia, having won their continental title more times than anyone else – have fallen way short of those standards just lately.
It has parallels to how Madrid have been stuttering in Europe this year, and their respective managers are both said to be on rocky ground.
That is a coincidence, given Jorge Jesus and Carlo Ancelotti, Madrid’s manager, are understood to be the two contenders to be the next Brazil coach.
Gwangju
Manager: Lee Jung-hyo
Key player: Jasir Asani
As a yo-yo club between South Korea’s top two divisions, Gwanju have been a revelation in their first season playing AFC Champions League football.
They earned their tournament debut by a best-ever K League placing of third last season. Then they promptly thrashed Yokohama F Marinos, last season’s beaten finalists, 7-3 in their first match.
Their method is unrelenting attack, led by their Albanian forward Jasir Asani. He – and his team – may have been little heralded before the start, but with nine goals he is the tournament’s joint-leading scorer.
Al Ahli Saudi
Manager: Matthias Jaissle
Key player: Riyad Mahrez
Off the pace in the Saudi Pro League title race, the Jeddah giants will have their confidence buoyed by the switch to continental competition.
The matches are being played in their backyard, after all, where they enjoy extraordinary home support.
Plus their quarter-final fixture against Buriram United is against the lowest-ranked side left in the tournament. The Thai side finished sixth in the league in the East region.
Ahli will be a threat to anyone, seeing as they boast players like Riyad Mahrez and Ivan Toney, who have 13 goals between them in the competition so far.
Buriram United
Manager: Osmar Loss
Key player: Narubadin Weerawatnodom
No Thai club has more Champions League appearances – nine – than Buriram, and they were title winners back at home last season.
They were sixth of the eight sides who qualified for the knock out phase of the competition in the Eest region, then scrapped out a 1-0 win over Malaysian side Johor Darul Ta'zim in the last 16.
While they may be outsiders for the title – or even to lay a glove on Al Ahli in the last eight – the Thai side do at least lay claim to having the best nickname in the competition. They are known informally as “The Thunder Castle.”
Yokohama F Marinos
Interim manager: Patrick Kisnorbo
Key player: Anderson Lopes
The Japanese side are a total contradiction. Consistent enough to return to the finals phase for a second season running, having been runners-up to Al Ain last year under Harry Kewell, and having topped the league in the East region.
Yet so erratic that they were thrashed 7-3 by Gwangju on the opening day of this season’s competition, while they also sacked manager Steve Holland on the eve of travelling to Jeddah.
Gareth Southgate’s former assistant was dismissed after just four months in charge, having won one of 11 league matches.
Given their form – they are bottom of the J League – they will be outsiders when they face Al Nassr.
Al Nassr
Manager: Stefano Pioli
Key player: Cristiano Ronaldo
No side will attract more attention - mainly, but not only, because of the great Ronaldo. Al Nassr are saturated with talent, with the likes of Sadio Mane, Jhon Duran, Aymeric Laporte and Marcelo Brozovic in their ranks.
They might be too far behind Al Ittihad to mount a challenge for the Saudi Pro League title, but they will be optimistic of taking out a first Champions League title. Especially given they are on the other side of the draw to the other two Saudi giants, Hilal and Ahli.
That does bring with it the possibility they could meet their great rivals, Hilal, in an all-Riyadh final in Jeddah on May 3.
Kawasaki Frontale
Manager: Shigetoshi Hasebe
Key player: Yasuto Wakizaka
No Japanese club has played in the Champions League more times than the Fujistu-owned side. However, this is their 11th appearance in the competition and they are yet to make it as far as the semi-finals.
Their quarter-final tie looks to be the one most weighted in the favour of the side from the East region.
Kawasaki finished second in their league phase, while Al Sadd muddled through in the West then only stumbled unconvincingly through their knockout fixture.
Al Sadd
Manager: Felix Sanchez
Key player: Akram Afif
The two-time champions from Qatar were somewhat lucky to make it this far. Al Wasl, the UAE champions, had more than enough chances to put them out over the course of the two legs in their last 16 meeting.
As a counter to that, Al Sadd showed they are clinical enough to put sides away, even when they are no at their best.
Not least Akram Afif, their outstanding winger who was the difference between them and Al Wasl.
He is among the most gifted attackers in the tournament, and will need to be at his best if they are add to the titles they won in 1989 and 2011.
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
SQUADS
Bangladesh (from): Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mahmudullah Riyad, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, Taijul Islam, Mosaddek Hossain, Nayeem Hasan, Mehedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadat Hossain, Abu Jayed
Afghanistan (from): Rashid Khan (capt), Ihsanullah Janat, Javid Ahmadi, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Ikram Alikhil, Mohammad Nabi, Qais Ahmad, Sayed Ahmad Shirzad, Yamin Ahmadzai, Zahir Khan Pakteen, Afsar Zazai, Shapoor Zadran
Skoda Superb Specs
Engine: 2-litre TSI petrol
Power: 190hp
Torque: 320Nm
Price: From Dh147,000
Available: Now
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
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
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
La Mer lowdown
La Mer beach is open from 10am until midnight, daily, and is located in Jumeirah 1, well after Kite Beach. Some restaurants, like Cupagahwa, are open from 8am for breakfast; most others start at noon. At the time of writing, we noticed that signs for Vicolo, an Italian eatery, and Kaftan, a Turkish restaurant, indicated that these two restaurants will be open soon, most likely this month. Parking is available, as well as a Dh100 all-day valet option or a Dh50 valet service if you’re just stopping by for a few hours.
LEADERBOARD
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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
