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Shield semis start today

By Aline Bannayan - Sep 11,2017 - Last updated at Sep 11,2017

AMMAN — The semifinals of the Jordan Football Association (JFA) Shield kick off on Tuesday with the four teams battling for the second title of the season.

Ramtha will take on Wihdat while Faisali play Jazira on Wednesday with the winners advancing to the September 19 final.

Jordan Professional Football League teams played in three groups with the top team from each group as well as the best second placed team moving to the knock-out semifinal round: Jazira advanced from Group A edging titleholders Shabab Urdun, newcomers Aqaba and Manshieh. Faisali topped Group B which included Baqaa, Yarmouk and Hussein while Wihdat led Group C which included Ahli, That Ras, and Ramtha who advanced as best second place team. 

The season started earlier this month when league and Jordan Cup champs Faisali beat runner-up Jazira 2-1 to win the 35th Jordan Super Cup — the first major competition on the 2017/18 football calendar. The league kicked off on the weekend while the Jordan Cup is set to start September 25.

The JFA brought back the Shield on the calendar last year following an absence of four seasons. Faisali, twice winner of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup, won the league and Jordan Cup titles last year while Ahli beat Wihdat to win the Super Cup and Shabab Urdun took home the JFA Shield.

This summer, Faisali finished runner-up to Tunisia’s Tarajji at the Arab Championship after an impressive performance which included two wins over Egyptian veterans Ahli. 

 

Looking back at the history of the Shield tournament, Wihdat are a record eight time winners, Faisali seven, Ramtha five, Hussein three, Jazira and Amman and Shabab Urdun twice each, Kufrsoum and Yarmouk once each. Hussein were finalists seven times. Amman have since scrapped football while Qadissieh were relegated and have since merged with Shabab Urdun. The winner will get JD15,000 in prize money.

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