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Gulf News - The Al Ahli Club's senior and reserve football teams left for Italy on a 25-day training camp to prepare for the new season.
 
The first phase of the external training camp will be held in Spolito for 10 days and the later part of the camp will be conducted at Norcia over two weeks. Al Ahli will also play 10 warm up matches in Italy and return to Dubai on September 5.
 
Al Ahli will be coached by Romanian Ilie Balaci this season.
Balaci is not new to the UAE after having led Al Ain and Al Shabab to league titles. The coach preferred not to speak at this juncture as it is important for the coach to concentrate on preparing for the demanding season ahead.
"The most important thing to do is to get the team focused on what lies ahead," Balaci said.
 
He felt that they have to work hard and prepare the team in a very good condition for the new season which kicks off with the preliminary rounds of the President's Cup.
 
Al Ahli's inaugural match in Group 'A' will be against Ahli Fujairah on September 17 at the Fujairah stadium. Joining them in the group are neighbours Al Shabab, Al Shaab, Al Hamriya, Al Jazira Al Hamra and Dubai Club.
 
Al Ahli finished third in the league standings last season and lost in the semifinals of both, the President's Cup and the Super Cup.
Qassim Sultan, the chairman of the Al Ahli Club's board of directors said he hoped the team will show a good performance which could help in winning a major title next season after the board signed with an experienced coach like Balaci.
 
Al Ahli also have Ali Karimi, one of the best professional players in the UAE. Karimi has renewed his contract with the club for a further two years recently.
 
"Finishing third last season was not a bad result. We hope to maintain that and achieve an excellent result by winning the league title," Sultan said.
 
Karimi could not leave with the team for the camp in Italy due to his commitment with Iran at the LG Cup beginning in Tehran tomorrow.
Also four players are not joining due to their engagement with the UAE national Olympic team conducting a training camp in Switzerland, namely Hassan Ali Ibrahim, Salim Khamis, Mohammed Qassim and Faisal Khalil.
 
 
Squad: Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim (manager), Ilie Balaci (coach). Players: Ali Saeed, Hassan Shah, Abdullah Mussa, Mashmoom Mehboub, Jasim Akbar, Abdullah Shah, Shehab Abdullah, Khalid Shah Dad, Hasan Ali Abbas, Adil Abdul Aziz, Isaq Mohammed, Ahmed Shah, Mohammed Obaid, Abdullah Saqr, Hussain Eied, Badr Ahmed, Khalid Shehab, Khalid Shah, Mohammed Shah, Mohammed Juma, Sami Anbar, Mubarak Juma, Issa Murad, Mohammed Salah.
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