Abu Dhabi: The UAE FA has organised a party to honour the UAE's Olympic football team on Thursday at the Abu Dhabi Armed Forces Officers Club, with Shaikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Advisor to the National Security Council and President of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, distributing the prizes offered by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to the players after they qualified for the London Olympic Games.
Each of the players will get Dh500,000 for winning a seat in the Games for the first time in the country's history.
Meanwhile, the FA Board of Directors in their meeting, headed by Yousuf Al Sarkal, has agreed to reduce the annual budget to Dh100 million — a drop of Dh25 million from last year's budget — in response to the recommendations of the FA Financial Committee. The FA also appointed the coaches of the country's different national teams before their next obligations, with Dr Abdullah Misfir continuing as caretaker coach of the senior team, meaning he will lead them in the Arab Cup in Saudi Arabia in June and July.
Badr Saleh will lead the Under-22 team in their summer Asian Cup qualifiers against Oman, Turkmenistan, India, Lebanon and Iraq.
Friendly games
The juniors' Under-17 team will be coached by Rashid Amer, who will lead them in the finals of the Fifa Under-17 World Cup, which will be hosted by the UAE next year.
The FA also decided that the senior national team will play friendly games against Australia and South Africa on October 12 and 16 respectively in preparation for the Gulf Cup in Bahrain, which will take place in January 2013.
