UAE coach Mahdi Ali on the shortlist for 2015 AFC Coach of the Year

The UAE coach Mahdi Ali has been nominated for the prestigious Asian Football Confederation Coach of the Year award.

Mahdi Ali makes the three-man shortlist alongside Australia’s Ange Postecoglou and Japan’s Norio Sasaki. The winner of the award will be announced at the AFC Annual Awards ceremony in New Delhi, India on Sunday.

The Emirati guided his team to a third-place finish at the Asian Cup held in Australia in January and has overseen a 2018 World Cup Asian qualifying campaign that sees the UAE sit second in Group A with four wins, a draw and a defeat, to Saudi Arabia, in six games so far.

With two home assignments remaining, against Palestine and group leaders Saudi Arabia in March, a pair of wins would seal the national team’s place in the third round of qualifying for he 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Al Ahli were nominated for the AFC Club of the Year after reaching the Asian Champions League final for the first time. They lost the two-legged championship match 1-0 on aggregate to China’s Guangzhou Evergrande, who are also on the shortlist alongside Malaysia’s Johor Darul Ta’zim.

Former Barca star Xavi wants Omar Abdulrahman and Arab footballers to play in Europe

Al Ahli players to receive Dh500k for runners-up finish in Asian Champions League

UAE’s Ahmed Khalil and Omar Abdulrahman named on shortlist for AFC Player of the Year

Al Ahli are also represented in the form of Brazilian Everton Ribeiro in the Foreign Player of the Year category. The South American schemer was instrumental in guiding Al Ahli to the Champions League final, notably with a goal and an assist in the semi-final second-leg win over Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal.

It follows last week’s announcement that Al Ahli striker Ahmed Khalil and Al Ain playmaker Omar Abdulrahman have made the three-man shortlist for the 2015 AFC Player of the Year alongside China captain and Guangzhou Evergrande midfielder Zheng Zhi.

Khalil, who has scored 10 goals so far in World Cup qualifying, narrowly missed out on collecting an Champions League medal on Saturday when his Al Ahli side lost 1-0 to Zhi’s Guangzhou in China.

Abdulrahman, who has contributed two goals so far to the UAE's bid to reach Russia 2018, as well as many more assists, helped Al Ain to lift the Arabian Gulf League title and was recently described by former Barcelona star Xavi on a trip to Dubai recently as "a very good player" and "a very good talent".

sluckings@thenational.ae

West Asia Premiership

Dubai Hurricanes 58-10 Dubai Knights Eagles

Dubai Tigers 5-39 Bahrain

Jebel Ali Dragons 16-56 Abu Dhabi Harlequins

You might also like:

Letter from New York: from pandemic frontline to protest central

Slavery statues: Injustice does not need to be set in stone

Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital

MATCH RESULT

Al Jazira 3 Persepolis 2
Jazira: Mabkhout (52'), Romarinho (77'), Al Hammadi (90' 6)
Persepolis: Alipour (42'), Mensha (84')

Tamkeen's offering

Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
Option 2: 50% across three years
Option 3: 30% across five years

PAKISTAN SQUAD

Abid Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali (test captain), Babar Azam (T20 captain), Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz, Imad Wasim, Kashif Bhatti, Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah.