Faisali, Jazira play for Jordan Cup title

By Aline Bannayan - May 23,2017 - Last updated at May 23,2017

AMMAN — Jazira and Faisali play the Jordan Cup final on Wednesday in the fourth and last competition of the season.

Faisali advanced after they eliminated rivals Wihdat on aggregate: they beat them 2-0 and tied 0-0. On the other hand, Jazira overcame Ramtha 1-0 in both legs of the semifinals.

After leading and being heavily favoured to win the league in which Jazira settled for second, the Jordan Cup final is now a chance to win one of the local titles which they won once in 1984.

Since the cup started in 1980, there have been 37 editions with Faisali being a record 18 time cup champions. Wihdat won 10 times, Ramtha and Shabab Urdun twice, while Jazira, Arabi, That Ras and Ahli won once each.

This season, Faisali won the Jordan Professional League title for their record 33rd time after a four year break with Jazira finishing second and Wihdat third. Ahli beat Wihdat 2-1 to win the 34th Super Cup and Shabab Urdun scored a major 5-1 win over Faisali to win their second Jordan Football Association Shield title after they first won in 2007.

Aqaba have been crowned First Division champs and together with Yarmouk have been promoted to the Professional League for next season replacing Sarih and Sahab.

Regionally, Wihdat have technically exited the Round of 16 of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup after also exiting the Asian Champions League earlier in the season. After losing the chance to win their fourth consecutive and 16th overall league title, the team went down 4-1 to Syria’s Wihdeh in the first leg. Ahli, playing in the AFC Cup for the first time, were eliminated from the first round.

Last season, Wihdat won the league title for the 15th overall time since they moved up to the league in 1975. Faisali beat Wihdat to clinch the Super Cup, while it was Ahli who made history when they beat Shabab Urdun to win their first Jordan Cup final. Ahli’s achievement came after years in the backstage. Despite being a long-time veteran and founder of the game in the Kingdom, Ahli were relegated to Division 1 in 2004, however, they made it back to the Pro League in 2014, finishing fifth in 2015 and third in 2016.

Jordan Cup record since 2000

2000Wihdat (Faisali)

2001Faisali (Hussein)

2002Faisali (Hussein)

2003 Faisali (Hussein)

2004 Faisali (Sh. Hussein)

2005 Shabab Urdun (Faisali)

2006 Shabab Urdun (Faisali)

2007Faisali (Shabab Urdun)

2008 Wihdat (Shabab Urdun)

2009Wihdat (Arabi)

2010Wihdat (Manshieh)