Dubai: A three-member interim committee has been appointed by the UAE Football Association to oversee the re-structuring of the body for the professional league which was disbanded late on Sunday. Ali Bu Jsaim, Abdullah Al Junaibi and Mohammad Al Ghorab have been named as the members.
The UAE FA's decision to axe the current UFL committee and form a new board within 30 days, during which it will assume temporary control, was announced following official notification from the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare (GAYSW).
An apparent naming violation by the UFL was cited as the reason for disbanding the body. Meanwhile, the disbanded UFL's CEO Carlo Nohra told Gulf News he hasn't received any contact from the UAE FA on how to move forward.
"We are just carrying on with our day-to-day duties. There has been nothing to say we should stop operating or that we should all go home." Nohra added: "I've heard that nothing changes, that it's just a leadership issue but until I know I cannot judge whether this was a good or bad decision."
Shock decision
When asked about the matter, local clubs said that they were in a state of "limbo or paralysis" ahead of the forthcoming season, following the shock decision by the UAE FA. An official at Al Shabab said: "I would ask the UAE FA to reconsider and try to find a way to get things done properly this year by working together.
"The UFL will be taken under the UAE FA's name but the two entities exist separately in professional leagues like those in Europe. They work together in one basket."
An unnamed Sharjah official said: "What clubs want is consistency, stability, professional processes in place, clarity and transparency, they need structure top to bottom. It doesn't matter whether it's from the UAE FA or the UFL."
"There's a lot of emotion in football but professional football is black and white, right and wrong. Confusion, lack of consistency or lack of structure doesn't sit well with professionalism. Processes and systems outlive personalities."
A member of Al Nasr's backroom staff added: "This is a really bad move. But we can only expect good things to continue next year. You can't say the UFL has done well or even very well in three years of professionalism because it's too soon to judge. They need more time. Europe only achieved it in 40-50 years of trying."
