Dubai: The du UAE FA Academy League (du UAE FAAL), a nationwide Under-17 football league enabling UAE club academies to compete alongside top private academies for the first time, revealed the line-up of teams for the inaugural season on Thursday.
The season kicks-off on January 19 and includes Al Ahli, Al Jazira, Al Ain, Emirates, du LaLiga HPC and FCBEscola among others.
Khalid Abdullah, managing director of the FA Academy, said: “We are excited to kick-off the first season of the UAE Football Association Academy League that will enable youth from all backgrounds and nationalities across the UAE to raise their level of football and earn a chance to be scouted by both national or international pro-football teams and clubs. The high level of interest from club and private academies reinforces the demand for a league at this standard and we look forward to the kick-off this January.”
Hussein Murad, chief executive officer of league organisers Inspiratus, added: “We have a very strong line-up of clubs and academies for the start of this ground-breaking league and we look forward to the participation of all national clubs and private academies across the UAE in our second season which will be expanded to include five age categories, U-18, U-16, U-14, U-12 and U-10.”
The season runs from January to April and matches will be played in world-class facilities across the country.
