DUBAI: When Al-Jazira announced the signing of the UAE’s most high-profile player Omar Abdulrahman in August of 2019, all talk within the Arabian Gulf League fan bases was of the capital club spending their way to glory. After all, Al-Jazira were unveiling a player who just three years earlier had been crowned Asia’s best and linked to European moves summer after summer. Lined
May 12, 2021 - 08:51 am By Staff Reporter
Bafana Bafana midfielder Thulani Serero is a league champion again after winning the Arabian Gulf League with Al Jazira.
Serero, 31, joined the United Arab Emirates outfit in 2019 as he followed his former Ajax Amsterdam manager Marcel Keizer to the Gulf which has seen an incredible change of fortunes for the club.
The defensive midfielder who s earned widespread plaudits for his role in their revival featured in all but one game in their 2020/21 league triumph - which is their first since 2016/17 campaign and third in their history.
Scroll through the gallery to see the South Africans who won league titles abroad
ABU DHABI: Al-Jazira are the new champions of the UAE after claiming the Arabian Gulf League title on the last day of the season with 3-1 win over Khorfakkan at Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Sheikh Rashid bin Humaid Al-Nuaimi, chairman of the United Arab Emirates Football Association, crowned the winners of the Arabian Gulf League following a tense title race that saw underdogs Baniyas chase down Al-Jazira to the end.
Also present at the ceremony was Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, vice president of Al Jazira Club, chairman of the board executive committee, as club captain Ali Khaseif raised the trophy.
Daniel Levy already knows what Erik ten Hag will bring to Tottenham after Julian Nagelsmann blow
Erik ten Hag is now the favourite with some bookmakers to become the next manager of Tottenham following Jose Mourinho s dismissal last week
Updated
Sign up to FREE email alerts from
Football London -
Subscribe
When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Your information will be used in accordance with ourPrivacy Notice.
Thank you for subscribingWe have more newslettersShow meSee ourprivacy notice
Daniel Levy and Tottenham are now going to have to look elsewhere for Jose Mourinho s successor with Julian Nagelsmann confirmed as Bayern Munich s next head coach.
A few weeks from now, one team will celebrate a historic Arabian Gulf League title. Dates for the final five matchweeks of the remaining eight are yet to be announced, but whenever and wherever the coveted trophy will be lifted, the winning side will look back at the night of Friday, Feb. 26 as one that has reshaped their 2020-21 campaign.
For now, it’s Al-Jazira who are smiling.
First, there is Sharjah’s woes. Despite hitherto leading the table, the reigning champions have looked a shadow of the side that took the UAE by storm to win their first league title in a quarter of a century in 2018-19. The subsequent season was declared null and void, disrupted by the pandemic, keeping the trophy in Sharjah for a further 12 months.