Inside UAE football: GCC Champions League can provide polish for Wahda and Wasl

The GCC Champions League may have one of the longest tournament names in football but it still means one thing for sides that take part - silverware. True, it does not have the profile of the AFC Champions League, and its start over the past week has been under-whelming to say the least.

But for the two UAE teams involved - Al Wahda and Al Wasl - qualification for the knock-out stage contested next season could go some way to adding some much-needed polish to what have been largely forgettable league campaigns.

The tournament, for 12 clubs from Arabian Gulf states Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, as well as the UAE, has actually been going on since 1982 but as the AFC Champions League has grown in importance so the GCC Champions League has slipped off the radar. It is still very much on UAE football radars, however, as recent results show.

Regional powerhouse

Whereas our clubs have a dreadful recent record in the AFC Champions League, their results in the GCC Champions League have been impressive, a reflection of the importance they have placed in the tournament and the fact that the quality of teams they have been up against has been modest.

UAE teams have won the tournament five times, including three of the last four occasions, and Al Shabab were the latest side to lift the trophy, claiming it for a second time by beating fellow Dubai side Al Ahli in a two-legged final which took place as recently as October and November last year.

That illustrates one of the problems of the GCC Champions League - like the more illustrious AFC Champions League - as it spans two seasons. So, although the action is starting now, the tournament will not reach a conclusion until the back-end of the year.

But if Al Wahda or Al Wasl can reach the semi-finals to be played next term then they are unlikely to be complaining, especially as both clubs, currently mid-table and going nowhere in the Etisalat Pro league, are in need of serious boosts in their flagging fortunes.

The truth is that both clubs have reason to believe they can do well because the groups they find themselves in contain sides with form as modest as their own, if not even more so.

Easy groups

Al Wahda beat Al Kharitiyath of Qatar 2-0 on Monday, a side that finished eighth in their domestic league last season and are now near the relegation zone. And the other opponent for Josef Hickersberger's side in a three-team group is Al Arabi of Kuwait. They have a domestic record of 16 league titles but none since 2002 and, like Al Kharitiyath, are nearer the basement.

Al Wasl, who won in 2009, have been drawn against Al Nahda, the Omani club where Mohammad Shaiba - until recently a central defender with Diego Maradona's side before he switched to Al Wahda - began his career, and Bahrain's Riffa Sports Club. No Bahraini side has ever won the competition.

The bottom line for both Al Wahda and Al Wasl is that winning breeds confidence. Just ask Al Shabab. Last season a run in the GCC Champions League went hand-in-hand with success in the Etisalat Cup and now this term Paulo Bonamigo's side have qualified for the AFC Champions League following a 3-0 success against opponents from Uzbekistan last weekend.

There's a well-known saying that from tiny acorns spring mighty oak trees. Both clubs will be hoping a few wins in this little-known competition will be the stepping stone to bigger and better times.

— Brian Murgatroyd