Al Shabab to set the ball rolling

Have you ever heard of a place called Fergana? Probably not, but for UAE football fans and Al Shabab supporters in particular, it will have a special resonance on Saturday.

It is a city in Uzbekistan, 420km east of capital Tashkent, with Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the south, and home to Neftchi Farg'ona, Al Shabab's opponents in this weekend's AFC Champions League qualifier.

The match is a play-off with the winner going through to the group stages while, for the loser, there is the consolation of a place in the AFC Cup.

On paper it looks a very winnable game for Al Shabab which have home advantage. Both sides finished fourth in their domestic league last term but the Uzbek side, unlike Al Shabab, are currently out of season and so will not be match-hardened.

The club can boast the likely presence of 20-year-old Uzbek international midfielder Pavel Smolyachenko and is coached by Yuriy Sarkisyan, a former national coach. But although Sarkisyan led Neftchi Farg'ona to four successive league titles in the 1990s, its most recent major honour was another league championship in 2001.

Way to go

On that basis it may be tempting for Paulo Bonamigo, his players and his staff to let their minds wander to the thought of what victory would mean. In this case it would be a place in those group stages and the potential for further progression.

And that potential is very real. The winners of Saturday's match will face Iranian side Persepolis, Al Gharafa of Qatar and current Saudi champions Al Hilal, with two teams moving forward to the first knock-out round.

Al Hilal would pose the sternest test of the trio as they remain in contention for domestic title honours, reached the last 16 of the Champions League last term and are coached by Ivan Hasek, the Czech who was ousted from his second spell at Al Ahli late last year.

Al Gharafa are coached by Bruno Metsu, another man like Hasek with an intimate knowledge of UAE football who led Al Ain to Champions League success in 2003 and coached the UAE national side from 2006 to 2008. But his current club are closer to the bottom than the top of the Qatar Stars League.

And although Persepolis are a record nine-time national champion and the former club of Emirates' Iranian national midfielder Pejman Nouri, they are currently languishing in mid-table in their domestic league and with a relatively new coach in Turk Mustafa Denizli, who took over in December.

Big year ahead

This is the start of a big year for UAE clubs in the Champions League as teams from this country have consistently underperformed in the competition in recent times and if the UAE are to be taken seriously in football terms then that is something that has to change.

The three clubs from UAE already in this term's group stages are Al Jazira, Baniyas and Al Nasr and all three, as well as Al Shabab, have the potential to do well. But the fact remains that recent performances of UAE sides in the Champions League are a clear indicator that our local teams, unlike their counterparts in Europe, struggle to combine domestic and continental commitments. And if push comes to shove then the priority, at least in the recent past, has always been to focus on the home front.

If Al Jazira and Al Nasr stay in contention for the league title, it will be interesting to see where their priorities lie, but whatever happens it will be fascinating to see this season's Champions League unfold - starting for UAE fans on Saturday night.