The move of a noble Omar to Al Ain from the UAE is a historic event. For the first time, a Jewish actor will play in the Muslim country, which until two years ago Israeli citizens could not even enter. The local media refer to Maccabi Haifa's star award as "the best player in the Israeli league", and he will arrive at the team with very high expectations.
Atzili will join the most decorated club in the UAE with 14 championships, 7 cups, 5 Super Cups and a historic Asian Championship in 2002. The team's last title win was in the 2021-22 season, and this season Al Ain finished second behind Bab-El Hali, who was also reportedly interested in the Israeli star.
The owner of the club is none other than Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed (also known as MBZ), the third president of the UAE and arguably the most powerful man in Abu Dhabi. In 2019, The Times magazine named bin Zayed the most powerful Arab leader in the world, and in 2020, under his role as crown prince, an agreement was signed to normalize relations with Israel.
Al Ain fans. Waiting for my noble, photo: Getty
The team plays in the Haza bin Zayed Stadium, which was inaugurated in 2014 and has a capacity of 22,717 seats. That same year, Al Ain played an exhibition match against Manchester City, losing 3-0.
One of the features of the modern stadium is the exterior façade, which consists of special LED lights, and its elliptical shape that creates complete shade on the pitch from 17:00, allowing comfortable conditions in a country known for especially hot weather. It hosted the Club World Cup in 2017 and 2018 and in 2019 the Asian Champions Cup.
The wonderful and special stadium, photo: Twitter
"An offer you can't refuse"
"There are offers you can't refuse," Dolev Haziza said of Al Ain's contract with teammate Omar Atzili. The Israeli, who will become the first player to play in the UAE, will earn NIS 600,7 per month, NIS 21 million in total per season and NIS 3 million throughout the entire three-season contract. For comparison: a nobleman will earn almost 6 times as much in the Emirates as Maccabi Haifa.
At the beginning of 2021, after the Abraham Accords, Maccabi Haifa and the Emirati club signed a technological and business cooperation agreement between them. This was the first swallow of a noble deal. Mohammed bin Taghlov, president of the club's board of directors, explained at the time that "the purpose of the agreement is to strengthen cooperation between the two clubs in sports, investment, commercial marketing and media," but it also paved the way for an Israeli player to move to the UAE league.
Even before Azil's move, in 2022, Mohammed Awad, who was playing in the green uniform at the time, was mentioned as a candidate to join Al Ain, but the Israeli-Arab player eventually decided to move on loan to Maccabi Petah Tikva.
Noble. New station, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Impressive new coach
On the sidelines, Al Ain appointed Alfred Schroeder as coach at the end of last month. The 50-year-old Dutchman replaced Erik ten Hag as Ajax manager at the start of the 2022-23 season, but was sacked in January after a run of seven games without a win. Before that, he coached at Club Brugge, was Ronald Koeman's assistant coach at Barcelona, guided Hoffenheim of the Bundesliga and Twente of the Dutch league.
In the summer of 2020, he was mentioned as one of the leading candidates to replace Vladen Ivić at Maccabi Tel Aviv. Moans Dabour, the Israeli striker who played under him in Germany, said at the time: "He understands football at a very high level and helped me progress, I hold on to him very much."
Alfred Schroeder. Reputable coach, photo: Reuters
The strong roster
Noble comes to be one of the stars of the team, but will not be the flashiest name on the roster. Ukrainian winger Andriy Yarmolenko, 33, who previously played for West Ham and Dortmund, signed for the club last summer and has scored 11 league goals this season.
Other notable names in the squad are Moroccan Sofiane Rahimi who had a great season with 11 goals and 12 assists, defender Tin Yadavai who previously played for Croatia, and young Brazilians Jonathan Santos (21, midfielder) and Eric (22, left back) who are considered promises.
But above all, the team's biggest star is Togo's Kodejo Po-do Laba striker. At the age of 31, he had a crazy season in the Emirati league with 28 goals and 10 assists in just 26 games. The striker, who previously played for teams from the Moroccan league, has led Al Ain since 2019 and won the championship and cup with them.
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Sufian Rahimi. A new friend to the noble, photo: Getty
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