Bani Yas have called on the country’s football fans to get behind them as they begin their quest for a place in the AFC Champions League on Saturday night.
The Abu Dhabi club face Kuwaiti side Al Qadsia in Al Shamkha (kick off 20:00) following a turbulent week that saw them replace boss Jorge da Silva with former Iraq and Jordan boss Adnan Hamad.
But with a place in the third and final qualifying round for this year’s continental competition up for grabs, chairman Mubarak Awad believes his club is not only playing only for themselves, but for the whole country.
“In entering into the Asian Champions League we are representing the UAE,” he said. The 2013 GCC Champions League winners have only played in Asia’s premier club competition once before, reaching the round of 16 in 2012 where they were beaten 7-1 by Al Hilal.
Bani Yas’ domestic form has wobbled recently, leading to da Silva’s exit, but Awad has not given up on his Asian “dream” should key local players, such as UAE international Amer Abdulrahman, regain fitness and form.
“Our goal is to pass these two qualification games and get into the groups and when we get into the groups we will set our goals after,” he added.
“We have a dream and we are working on that to be a success this year. Maybe it will be difficult because we had a lot of difficulties with the team. We lost a lot of players [to injury] and we made some changes to the foreign players.”
Indeed, last season’s success in the GCC Champions League was built on some impressive performance from loan star Mohammed Abou-Treika.
Bani Yas don’t possess a player with the same qualities this year, but Awad is not worried by that suggesting the club’s Emirati players will have gained from their triumphant Gulf experience.
