The passing of another football season always brings with it a certain finality, but when it comes to the 2023/24 Adnoc Pro League, it feels doubly definitive.
On Sunday, Ismail Matar was there for his final match for Al Wahda, the club he has – rather incredibly – represented for a quarter of a century. At 41, one of the finest footballers the UAE has produced consigned his playing career to the past.
Matar’s retirement prompted a flood of homages from Wahda – his boyhood club – Sunday’s rivals Sharjah, and on social media. As well it should.
Matar is a three-time UAE league champion and has captured every other domestic trophy as well, some more than once. For the national team, he first rose to prominence as player of the tournament at the 2003 Fifa World Youth Championship (more recently known as the Fifa U20 World Cup), on home soil.
Having scored a last-minute winner in the last 16 against Australia, Matar was selected for the award ahead of the likes of Andres Iniesta and Javier Mascherano. It marked a huge moment not only for the player, but the country.
His penchant to play protagonist continued through to the 2007 Arabian Gulf Cup; Matar scored the decisive goal in the final, the UAE becoming regional champions for the first time. Six years later, albeit in a relatively reduced role, he was part of the team who again sealed the trophy.
In between, Matar led the UAE’s bright band of tyros at the country’s memorable inaugural appearance at an Olympics, notching first in their opening match at the 2012 Games against Uruguay at Old Trafford. He would do the same in the last of their three games, against Senegal in Coventry.
Perhaps even Matar would not have envisioned he'd be concluding his career some 12 years later, last month’s League Cup success in hand, the outpouring of tributes and tears quickly following. For sure, his was a football life lived well.
If Matar has been long viewed the doyen of this specific era of UAE football, the generation that he bridged included a trio of players developed to take the national team further.
For a time from the middle of the last decade, Omar Abdulrahman, Ali Mabkhout and Ahmed Khalil were considered the UAE’s three leading lights, the headline acts in a team that was fast going places.
There was the Gulf Cup triumph in 2013, where Abdulrahman, then only 21, suggested emphatically that a prosperous career lay ahead. His opening goal in the final against Iraq, a mazy dribble and finish, simply reinforced that.
Of the UAE’s 10 goals in the Bahrain tournament, Abdulrahman, Mabkhout and Khalil chipped in with seven. The team’s future seemed set.
Again, at the 2015 Asian Cup, the attacking triumvirate were integral to the UAE’s historic run to bronze. Staged in Australia, it constituted their best result on foreign soil in the continent’s principal event.
They even defeated record-winners Japan in the quarter-finals; in the shoot-out in Sydney, Abdulrahman did the Panenka. With five goals in all, Mabkhout took the tournament's Golden Boot.
Khalil would that year enter the record books as the first Emirati to be named Asian Player of the Year. Twelve months later, Abdulrahman followed suit.
From there, though, the promise never felt fulfilled. Yes, Mabkhout went on to become the UAE’s all-time record goalscorer, later matching the feat in the domestic top flight.
Representing Al Jazira as boy and man, now 33, it was anticipated his playing days would come to a close at the Abu Dhabi side. But, on Saturday and much to everyone’s surprise, Jazira announced in a statement on social media that the 2023/24 finale against Al Ain would represent Mabkhout’s last match for the club.
He departs having scored 218 goals in 298 league appearances, with a collection of trophies in the bag.
So, remarkably, Mabkhout, Abdulrahman and Khalil are now without a club. Abdulrahman was released in February by Al Wasl; last week, Al Bataeh dismissed reports they had agreed to keep Khalil beyond the season’s final match.
Abdulrahman is 33, Khalil one year younger. Both ravaged by injury and fitness issues, the former made only 19 league appearances since 2020, the latter 28.
Thus, as the UAE get set in the next week to sign off on a successful second round of qualification for the 2026 World Cup – they face Nepal away on Thursday and Bahrain at home on June 11 – they look now to a fresh group to deliver what Matar, Mabkhout, Abdulrahman and Khalil could not: the country’s second participation at a global finals.
Undoubtedly, Matar will never be forgotten. Quite conceivably, the other three will find new employers. But the sense is that a chapter, that promised so much and delivered some way and more too, has closed.
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
liverpool youngsters
Ki-Jana Hoever
The only one of this squad to have scored for Liverpool, the versatile Dutchman impressed on his debut at Wolves in January. He can play right-back, centre-back or in midfield.
Herbie Kane
Not the most prominent H Kane in English football but a 21-year-old Bristolian who had a fine season on loan at Doncaster last year. He is an all-action midfielder.
Luis Longstaff
Signed from Newcastle but no relation to United’s brothers Sean and Matty, Luis is a winger. An England Under-16 international, he helped Liverpool win the FA Youth Cup last season.
Yasser Larouci
An 18-year-old Algerian-born winger who can also play as a left-back, Larouci did well on Liverpool’s pre-season tour until an awful tackle by a Sevilla player injured him.
Adam Lewis
Steven Gerrard is a fan of his fellow Scouser, who has been on Liverpool’s books since he was in the Under-6s, Lewis was a midfielder, but has been converted into a left-back.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The struggle is on for active managers
David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.
The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.
Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.
Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.
Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.
At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn.
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Film: Raid
Dir: Rajkumar Gupta
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Ileana D'cruz and Saurabh Shukla
Verdict: Three stars
Abu Dhabi Card
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 80,000 1,400m
National selection: AF Mohanak
5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 90,000 1,400m
National selection: Jayide Al Boraq
6pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 100,000 1,400m
National selection: Rocket Power
6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Championship Listed (PA) Dh 180,000 1,600m
National selection: Ihtesham
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 1,600m
National selection: Noof KB
7.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 80,000 2.200m
National selection: EL Faust
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
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Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
