The UAE Pro League signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Israeli Professional Football League that will see the two sides cooperate to further develop the success of the sport in both countries, reported the United Arab Emirates’ state news agency (WAM).
The historic agreement - the first of its kind in the Middle East - is a step towards laying the foundations for cooperation and securing a joint mechanism to achieve practical steps aimed at developing all matters related to football, the UAE Pro League said in a statement carried by WAM.
The terms of the MoU include holding joint workshops to discuss ways to develop the marketing and promotional side of the competitions, in addition to keeping pace with everything related to sports and football development technology, as well as developing the technical aspect in the football sector.
A signing ceremony was held on Monday via web video conferencing and was attended by Abdulla Naser Al Junaibi, Chairman of the UAE Pro League, and Erez Halfon, Chairman of the Israeli Professional Football League.
Al Junaibi said: "Football has always been the most important and fast path to bring people together. These are the cooperation pillars we aim at through this agreement, through which we hope to achieve gains for both parties.
"We look forward to the contribution that this agreement would bring to establishing bilateral workshops to share experiences, research, and technology in football and the development of administrative and technical work. We also aim to organize joint activities between the two leagues and to assure cooperation to reinforce the economic - commercial – technological and technical sides between the two leagues."
In turn, Halfon said: "Football is the most popular sport not only in the world, but also in both Israel and the United Arab Emirates; The passion for football transcends religions, nations and races, and we have the ability to use it as a tool to build relationships and break down walls between people, of all genders, and of all races.
The UAE Pro League was founded in 2008 and joined the World Leagues Forum in 2019, which had a major role in strengthening relations between the UAE and Israeli leagues.