Al Ain (UAE)

Qualify as: UAE champions Previous appearances: 0 Best finish: — Coach: Zoran Mamic One to watch: Marcus Berg

The hosts have been set rather a tall order by their predecessors Al Jazira, who broke the record for the furthest a UAE side had gone in this tournament last year by reaching the semi-finals, before losing 2-1 to eventual winners Real Madrid. Before that, on the only other two occasions the tournament was held in the UAE, Al Ahli crashed out 2-0 to Auckland in the play-off in 2009 and Al Wahda lost 4-1 to Seongnam in the quarters in 2010. Al Ain will be expected to put up more of fight as record 13-time UAE league champions (Al Jazira only have two titles in comparison), but the truth is they are coming in beat. They sold their best player Omar Abdul Rahman to Al Hilal over the summer, have just been knocked out of the President’s Cup Last 16 by Al Wasl, and can’t pull away from Sharjah at the top of the UAE league table.