Al Wahda U23

Abu Dhabi's football runs through two clubs that share a postcode, and Al Wahda's academy exists to keep feeding one of them. The senior side traces its competitive standing to 1984, when Abu Dhabi SC and Al Emirates SC merged by decree of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, though its playing lineage reaches back further, to a club called Al Wahda first put together in 1969. The U23s carry that name and colours — maroon and white — into the UAE Pro League U23 competition, training and playing under the same badge as the first team, with no separate honours list of its own.

Matches are staged at Al Nahyan Stadium, rebuilt for the 2019 Asian Cup and now holding just under 16,000, the same ground the senior side calls home.

What the age group produces gets tested quickly. Mohamed Al-Shamsi came through the academy and was in the first-team squad by the 2016/17 season, going on to earn UAE caps and a place at the 2019 Asian Cup. Abdulla Hamad followed a similar route, making his senior debut in December 2019 before also being capped internationally. Neither stayed a reserve player for long.

Any graduate who breaks through inherits the fixtures that matter most in the capital. Al Jazira sit less than two kilometres away, and the derby between them is simply the Abu Dhabi City Derby. Al Ain, the other heavyweight of the emirate, brings the Abu Dhabi Classico — two of the most decorated clubs in the country meeting with a title history behind it. Whoever gets promoted out of the U23s is promoted into that.