"League 65"... Kicks off on Tuesday
The 65th edition of the Kuwaiti Premier League, known as the “Zain League,” kicks off on Tuesday with 12 teams participating for the first time under a two-group format. This structural change follows the Kuwait Football Association’s decision to abolish relegation last season and promote two teams—the champion and runner-up—from the First Division.
Al-Qadsieh, the most successful club in the competition with 17 titles, will host Al-Fahaheel as they seek their first league crown since the 2015-2016 season.
A common thread among the teams involved in these opening matches is that they will all begin the campaign under new managerial leadership compared to last season. Al-Kuwait appointed Portuguese coach Alexandre Santos as the successor to Montenegrin Nebojsa Jovovic, only to later replace him with Syrian Firas Al-Khatib. Meanwhile, Croatian Goran Sablic replaced Nasser Al-Shatti at Al-Arabi. In a separate move, the veteran coach Mohamed Ibrahim returned to lead Al-Qadsieh after the departure of Tunisian Nabil Maaloul. Additionally, Al-Fahaheel’s management hired Slovakian Martin Svila to replace Syrian Firas Al-Khatib.
Al-Kuwait and Al-Arabi both recognize the importance of securing a win in their respective matches, as the current season’s format will limit their head-to-head encounters to just two games, unlike previous years when they also faced each other in the final “Championship Group” stage.
Al-Kuwait appears well-equipped for the task, boasting technical and squad superiority over its rivals, along with a stable foreign player roster. The club’s management opted to retain most of its foreign players for another season, including Congolese Arsene Zola, Moroccan Mehdi Barhoma, Bahraini Mohammed Marhoon, and Tunisian Taha Khenissi. Ivory Coast’s Idrissa Dumbuya departed and was replaced by Brazilian Carlos Vinicius.
Al-Arabi has established itself as the sole rival to Al-Kuwait, having finished as runners-up in the past four editions. However, this recurring second-place finish has frustrated the club’s fans, who are weary of playing the role of the “second team” in the league. They hope Al-Arabi, known as “Al-Akhdar” (The Green), will break this barrier and claim its first title since the 2020-2021 season.
The current summer has seen significant changes in Al-Arabi’s squad, starting with the departure of striker Salman Al-Awadi and promising midfielder Abdullah Al-Qarzai to Al-Kuwait. The club also re-signed international defender Hassan Hamdan, whom Al-Arabi had long sought to return after he moved to Jordanian club Al-Ahli without management approval at the start of last season.
The task for new coach Firas Al-Khatib does not appear daunting, given his thorough familiarity with Al-Kuwait’s players, having previously managed Al-Fahaheel in the Kuwaiti Premier League for the past four seasons.
Conversely, Al-Arabi has finalized new international transfers, adding Ethiopian striker Kenyan Markini and Senegalese defender Jowhar Rasoul, while retaining Nigerian Ayanu Iyawa, Palestinian Zaid Qanbar, and Brazilian Leonardo Sheldon, who all continued from last season.
Al-Arabi held a training camp in Turkey before their AFC Champions League Two preliminary round match, which they lost 4-1 to Indian hosts East Bengal earlier this month. The defeat dealt a significant blow to the team’s and fans’ morale ahead of the domestic season.
In the second match, Al-Qadsieh will travel to the Naif Al-Dabous Stadium to face a tough opponent that has consistently troubled them in recent seasons.
The “Yellow” team’s list of foreign players has undergone a complete overhaul, with the departure of five players from last season and the signing of new recruits.
As for Al-Fahaheel, the club also made changes to its squad, starting with the technical staff, now led by Slovakian coach Martin Svajda, followed by changes in the foreign player contingent with the signings of South African Ranga Chivavava, Ethiopian Gatosh Bannum, and Alvin Fortes from Cape Verde, who join Brazilian Vitor Vieira and his compatriot Carlos Bruno. The local players include Mohammed Al-Farsi, Hamad Al-Taweel, and goalkeepers Ahmed Dashti, Ali Fadel, and Abdulaziz Naji.
