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A 'new dawn for UAE football'

Shaikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, headed the list of VIPs who received the UAE Under-19 national soccer team on their return to Abu Dhabi on Saturday night after winning the Asian Youth Championship.

  • By Yasir Abbasher, Senior Reporter
  • Published: 17:09 November 16, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Shaikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of Abu Dhabi Sports Council, receives the UAE Under-19 who won Asia Cup. Shaikh Hazza is seen receives Ahmad Khalil.
  • Image Credit: Abdul Rahman/Gulf News
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Abu Dhabi: Shaikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, headed the list of VIPs who received the UAE Under-19 national soccer team on their return to Abu Dhabi on Saturday night after winning the Asian Youth Championship.

The team arrived at the Emiri terminal at Abu Dhabi International Airport to find a warm reception from top sports officials from Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah Sports Councils and from club officials.

The juniors of the capital's clubs: Al Jazira, Al Wahda and Bani Yas, brought flowers, flags and banners to welcome their heroes back home carrying the Asian Youth Championship cup.

The UAE junior national team players, who also won a seat in the finals of the Fifa Under 17 World Cup in Nigeria in October next year, were there to welcome their elder colleagues with flowers and flags.

Shaikh Hazza lauded the achievement of the youth team.

"This achievement is a new dawn for UAE football as we have two teams who won places in the finals of the Fifa World Cups for both the Under-17s and Under-20s. We are proud of your achievement and feel optimistic that you will be the golden era of UAE football."

Shaikh Hazza stressed the importance of preparing the team for the finals of the World Cup in Egypt next year.

"The players have shown great prospects and by beating the strongest teams in Asia we can look forward to them achieving brilliant results in the Fifa Youth World Championship next year."

Very talented

Shaikh Hazza added: "The players have proved themselves as very talented and while our country's football transforms to professionalism I expect most of you will get some offers from inside and outside the UAE which will earn you great experience and will surely benefit our national teams."

Shaikh Hazza also praised the efforts of the team's technical staff, headed by Emirati Mehdi Ali.

Only days before the finals of the Asian Youth Championship, a change in the team's technical staff occurred and many were worried about the time of the change but the local staff proved capable and knew more about the players' capabilities which resulted in them winning all six matches the team played in the finals.

"I expect most of this team to play in the qualifiers of the 2014 World Cup and I also expect them to shine and become our new football stars," Shaikh Hazza said.

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