When Fabio Cannavaro, the former Italian international and 2060 Fifa World Player of the Year who plays for Al Ahli, was shown his third yellow card in three Pro League matches, he faced a mandatory one-game suspension.
Fortuitously, for Cannavaro and Ahli, the captain was able to serve his suspension in perhaps the least daunting match the Dubai side will play this season - against Al Rams of Division One in the opening round of the President's Cup.
Had the national tournament not intervened, Cannavaro would have missed a riveting home match with Pro League table-topping Al Jazira on Friday.
Now, he can play, having served his time while his teammates strolled past Al Rams 4-0 at Ajman on Monday.
Cherie Mansfield, the marketing and communications manager for the Pro League, said that disciplinary actions "carry across both competitions".
Which works out neatly for the Pro League. The league's best-known and most-expensive player (at Dh22.5 million per year) will be available to play in the Ahli defence against the visitors from Abu Dhabi.
Cannavaro, 37, may not have minded missing the Rams match in what amounted to an extra fixture for the country's teams. He was booked for remonstrating with the referee in the last seconds of a draw at Kalba.
The Italian now has one yellow from each of his three matches in the Pro League: for a handball at Dhafra, for grabbing an attacking player's shirt versus Al Wasl and for dissent at Kalba.
A similar scenario played out for Khalid Sabeel, Jazira's right-back. Sabeel picked up his third yellow against Al Wahda last weekend, and his suspension came during a 7-0 rout of Ras al Khaimah on Monday. He, too, ought to be well-rested for the Ahli-Jazira match.
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Under 19 World Cup
Group A: India, Japan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka
Group B: Australia, England, Nigeria, West Indies
Group C: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Scotland, Zimbabwe
Group D: Afghanistan, Canada, South Africa, UAE
UAE fixtures
Saturday, January 18, v Canada
Wednesday, January 22, v Afghanistan
Saturday, January 25, v South Africa
The Saga Continues
Wu-Tang Clan
(36 Chambers / Entertainment One)
More on Palestine-Israeli relations
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.