Maradona bids farewell to UAE football after seven-year stint
Former Al Wasl, Fujairah boss joins Belarusian side Dynamo Brest
Former Fujairah coach Diego Maradona’s seven-year stay in UAE comes to an end after he joined Belarusian side Dynamo Brest as chairman on a three-year deal yesterday.
The 57-year-old Argentine was sacked by Fujairah last month after failing to secure automatic promotion to the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) after a decisive home draw against Khor Fakkan on the last day of the season. Fujairah tried to lure him back after a change of heart with the Wolves still able to qualify via the play-offs, but Maradona’s agent Matias Morla demanded four times his salary to continue.
The Wolves ended up qualifying for the AGL anyway with a 3-1 aggregate win over Hatta in the play-offs under Emirati interim coach Abdullah Misfer on Sunday.
Maradona had only been in charge of Fujairah for the 2017/18 season but had remained in the UAE after a similarly disappointing year’s stay with Al Wasl back in 2011/12, where he was sacked midway through a two-year contract before going on to become an ambassador for Dubai Sports Council.
Even after Misfer’s efforts to promote Fujairah, it was still speculated that Maradona might return to lead the club in the top flight next season.
Strategic development
Instead, the 1986 World Cup winner has joined Brest, who finished fourth in the Belarusian Premier League last season, just missing out on the Europa League qualifying slots. They did, however, lift the Belarusian Cup and Super Cup last season.
“Diego will be engaged in issues of strategic development, interacting with all its structural units, including the academy.” a tweet on Dynamo Brest’s official twitter account read. “He will begin his role after the World Cup in Russia. A press conference will be held at Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi with Diego Maradona and representatives of the club, with the date to be announced shortly.”
Maradona told Argentine daily newspaper Clarin: “I have just signed the best contract of my life thanks to my friend and lawyer Matias Morla.
“I’m happy. I will make a competitive team. I thank the people of Belarus for thinking of me. I’ll leave everything as I did every time I stepped onto a football field.”
After Dutch coach Henk Ten Cate’s exit from Al Jazira, Al Ain coach Zoran Mamic is awaiting a verdict from his club on the extension of his contract. It is learnt that the club management will be making an announcement in a couple of days.
Al Ain suffered a 4-1 setback at the hands of Qatari side Al Duhail and crashed out of the AFC Champions League Round 16. It was the club’s biggest aggregate loss 8-3 against a team from Qatar. In the first leg at home, Al Ain had ended with a disappointing 4-2 loss.
Mamic had signed an 18-month contract and had taken over from another Croatian, Zlatko Dalic, at a time when the club had already lost every chance of winning a domestic trophy in the 2016-17 season.
The only competition Mamic had a hope of winning that campaign was the Champions League. He saw the side safely through the last 16, handing Esteghlal a crushing defeat. In the quarters, however, they were eliminated by Al Hilal.
In his first full season as coach, Mamic has managed to bring back the glory days for The Boss. Al Ain were in total dominance in the Arabian Gulf League and eventually clinched the title with a seven-point gap over second-placed capital club Al Wahda. Al Ain won the title scoring an average of over three goals per game and also recorded most goals in the history of the competition.
Title-drought ends
Winning the Arabian Gulf League thus ended Al Ain’s two-year title drought and it was Al Ain’s 13th Arabian Gulf League title. Then within three days, they had another trophy under their belt — the President’s Cup — which they won by beating Al Wasl 2-1 in the final. With that double success, Mamic also entered the history books as the first Al Ain coach to win two titles in a season.
Despite all that, many are of the view that Mamic is a touch lucky and his success has more to do with a talented side at his disposal. His tactics, often when the side have their backs to the wall, are questionable, especially when it comes to using substitutions.
These two crushing defeats at the hands of the best side Al Duhail, who are unbeaten in the AFC Champions League, is more ammunition for his critics.
It is highly unlikely that Al Ain will start their search for a new coach any time soon, especially when Mamic has success to show and even expressed his willingness to continue.
However, with the highprofile Club World Cup competition to look forward to in December, it will be interesting to see for how long his contract will be renewed for.