The UAE national Olympic football team gathered yesterday in Dubai and left today for Switzerland for their external training camp. The team is scheduled to play four friendlies against strong Swiss teams before returning on August 15.

The UAE will face Thailand in home and away games on September 10 in Dubai, and a week later in Bangkok.

The UAE, led by British head coach Roy Hodgson, will play friendlies on July 30 and on August 4, 7 and 12 before turning home to continue their domestic preparations.

In the UAE, they will play three more friendly matches against some teams from Asia.

The UAE FA Temporary Committee has sent in invitations to the football associations of China, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia asking their teams to come and play friendly matches in Dubai on August 24, 28 and September 7.

These encounters will be the last practice games before the meeting against Thailand.

Meanwhile, the UAE senior football team will hold an external training camp in Turkey from September 28 to October 6. The team will play one friendly match to prepare for the qualifiers of the 2004 Asian Cup to be hosted by China.

The UAE will compete against Syria, Turkmenistan and Sri Lanka for a single seat in the finals.

The UAE junior team preparing for the GCC Championship, to be held in Qatar in September, secured a 2-1 win against Al Wasl in a friendly match played at the Dubai Police Officers Club stadium on Tuesday evening.