Football clubs back to Jordan Pro League action

AMMAN — After a near six week break, the 69th Jordan Professional Football League (Pro League) restarts on the weekend with clubs back in action after participation in Asian competitions, as well as, national team qualifiers.

Shabab Urdun are in the lead and will play reigning champs Wihdat, who have two postponed matches, while Ramtha are second and next play bottom placed Baqa'a. Faisali play Aqaba, Jazira meet Ma'an and Jalil go up against Sahab.

Players are back with their clubs after a tumultuous two weeks, during which the national team was eliminated from 2022 World Cup qualifiers, and now has to go through another stage of qualifying to get to the 2023 Asian Cup. Following that the squad advanced to the FIFA Arab Cup — Qatar 2022 on a technicality after South Sudan was forced to forfeit their match with over six members of their squad contracting COVID-19. 

In local competitions, a newcomer to the Pro League, relatively unknown Jalil, overcame Wihdat to win the 34th Jordan Football Association Shield — the first of the season competitions. Wihdat jumped back to win their 14th Super Cup when they beat one-time winners Jazira in 38th Jordan Super Cup, the second title up for grabs in the 2021 football season.

Last season, Wihdat took home their 17th league title while Jazira finished runner-up, leaving Ramtha in third place, while former champs Faisali settled for fifth after Salt. Sarih dropped alongside eight-time league champ veterans Ahli after a disappointing season. Ahli, were relegated last decade, but came back to win the Jordan Cup in 2015 and played in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Jalil and Baqa'a joined the 12-club Pro League this season. 

In addition to their Pro League title, Wihdat won their 10th Jordan Football Association Shield (JFA) competition. In other events, Faisali overcame Jazira to win their 17th Jordan Super Cup as the Jordan Cup was scrapped from the agenda for the first time since the competition kicked off in 1980.

Since the league kicked off in 1944 with only Faisali, Ahli, Urdun and Homenetmen competing, Faisali are 34-time record champs, while Wihdat won 17 times since they joined in 1980. Although Faisali are the all-time record titleholders, Wihdat's record is quite impressive. After four years in the Pro League, they won their first title in 1980 and have gone on to win the majority of titles since then.

While the league was on break, Wihdat played Group D of the Asian Champions League, but was knocked out in the first round. In the AFC Cup, Jordan's Salt, who played their inaugural AFC Cup, have advanced to the semifinals of the West Asia Zone after taking second spot in Group B while Jordan's Faisali were knocked out after they finished third in Group C. The top team in each of the zone's three groups alongside the best second placed team moved on to the zonal semifinals before teams play the advanced inter zonal knockout stages and final of the second-tier Asian club competition. The zonal semifinals will be played in September when Salt play Kuwait FC and Lebanon's Al Ahed face Bahrain's Muharraq. 

In the 2020 AFC Cup, Faisali played alongside Jazira before the tournament was scrapped with the COVID-19 pandemic halting regional and international sporting agendas.

Standings 

Team P W D L GF GA Pts

Sh. Urdun 6 3 3 0 6 3 12

Ramtha 5 3 2 0 8 1 11

Faisali 5 3 2 0 11 5 11

Wihdat 4 3 1 0 9 1 10

Salt 6 2 4 0 6 4 10

Hussein 6 3 0 3 7 11 9

Jazira 6 2 2 2 14 8 8

Aqaba 6 2 2 2 4 4 8

Ma'an 6 1 2 3 5 8 5

Sahab 6 0 3 3 6 11 3

Jalil 6 0 3 3 1 7 3

Baqa'a 6 0 0 6 1 15 0