The Natoinal's Sport cover for the Thursday, August 20 issue, featuring the Arabian Gulf League as it makes its return for the 2015/16 season.
Al Ahli opened the campaign with a memorable romp, defeating Fujairah 8-1 in Dubai.
With things off and running, Ahmed Rizvi offers his predictions for the coming year, including more eyes on the product:
“This season might finally see them massing inside the stadiums, taking every available seat and cheering on their teams. At least, that is the hope of Arabian Gulf League officials, especially with this decision to encrypt all matches on television.
“The clubs and the players certainly deserve bigger audiences. The AGL has some coveted stars playing in this league – Jorge Valdivia, Nilmar, Everton Ribeiro, Denilson, Jo, Vucinic, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Madjid Bougherra and Amr Al Sulaya, to name a few – and yet has some of the lowest attendances in Asia.
“This needs to change. Fans need to start coming out to the stadiums and support their teams and players.”
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