Jordan Professional League heads into recess

AMMAN — Jordan Professional League headed into a month-long break as clubs and national teams agendas hampered efforts to continue the schedule that will now resume on April 2 and end May 17.

The break has come under much scrutiny from most observers and coaches who underlined that the League’s long break would adversely affect teams, player preparedness and strain club budgets even further.

However, the competitions committee at the Jordan Football Association (JFA) was left with no choice as the U-23 team started a training camp with little time left ahead of Olympic qualifiers starting on March 23, and the national team is set for a friendly against Saudi Arabia on March 30.

Wihdat and Jazira resume their Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup matches next week and both stadiums in Amman are undergoing maintenance.

Wihdat still lead with three points after they beat Hussein 3-0. Ramtha are second after they edged neighbours Ittihad Ramtha 1-0 and Jazira remained third after a 1-0 win over Manshieh.

Former Jordan Cup champs That Ras are fourth after being held 1-1 with Baqaa, Sarih climbed up two spots after a 1-0 defeat of Ahli and Shabab Urdun went up a spot to 10th after a 1-0 win over Faisali.

Although Ramtha’s Rakan Khalidi is still on the injury list, he still leads the scorers with eight goals while Wihdat’s Mahmoud Zaatara has seven.

The season has been adversely affected with inconsistent results, the continuous change of coaches and less fans attending. 

Faisali still trail at the lower end of the standings for the first time ever since the League kicked off in 1944. Former champs Shabab Urdun also disappointed fans, while Baqaa, a usual top five finisher, is now 9th after only three wins.

Wihdat won the first major competition of the 2014/15 football season calendar after they beat Baqaa 2-0 in the 32nd Super Cup. The Jordan Cup semis will now be played after the League ends as Faisali play Wihdat and Ramtha face That Ras in the semis. 

Last season, Wihdat won the League for the 13th time and beat Baqaa to win the Jordan Cup. Shabab Urdun beat That Ras to win the 31st Super Cup. The JFA Shield was not held.

Standings after Week 15 

(Last week’s rank in parenthesis)