At a press conference in Alexandria at the Helnan Palestine Hotel, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ambassador Dr Aref Ali Nayed, announced three significant developments for immediate and long term future of the Ahli Club.
He announced that the present coach Tarek El-Ashry, would be leaving the club to assume a new position in Egypt. Tariq choose to accept the new position in order to be closer to his family. Ambassador Nayed conveyed his team’s deep appreciation of Tarek El-Ashry’s contribution to the growth and development of Al-Ahli Football club. Under Tarek’s guidance Al-Ahli has achieved remarkable results in the international stage and African League, beating not only the rivals Ahli Masry but also Tunisian and Algerian teams.
Ambassador Nayed also announced Jozef Vukusic from Slovakia as the new head coach for Al Ahli. Vukusic brings to this position a wealth of experience having coached at premier league clubs in Europe and in Africa. He will be joined by his assistant Jozef Pavlik, who also brings to the club experience in coaching positions in premier league teams in Europe and Asia.
In addition, Ambassador Nayed announced four new international players to Al Ahli: Tawamba Kana from Cameroon; Marques de Souza Jhonnes from Brazil; Danijel Majkic and Marko Perisic from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Two of the four players will be playing in the Africa Cup series and all of them will become an integral part of Al Ahli squad for the new Libyan league season this September.
The last and most significant announcement today by Ambassador Nayed was the establishment of the Al Ahli Football Academy. The vision for this academy is to establish a clear path to development for young Libyan football players who will be the future of both the Ahli football club and the Libyan national team. The academy has contracted world class head and assistant coaches with a wealth of experience coaching teams in Europe, Asia and Africa and who are fully licensed and accredited by FIFA.
The Ahli has also partnered with a leading football training facility in Maribor, Slovenia, that has first rate lodgings, practice and fitness facilities for development and building of the capabilities of our young Libyan talent. An integral part of this training facility is the proximity to various European football clubs in the same age categories as Al Ahli academy teams. This proximity is needed in order to integrate high quality competition into the Football Academy training program. Maribor, Slovenia is within short driving distance of Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Italia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia, and its ideal location will enable Ahli to bring international football players from all of these countries to compete with Ahli teams and make this competition a key ingredient of the training program.