Jordan league sees decisive matches as Week 15 kicks off

AMMAN — Salt lost their first match of the season this week and have a tough match against Faisali, while leaders Shabab Urdun face titleholders Wihdat in a decisive week of the Jordan Professional Football League kicking off on Thursday.

Shabab Urdun beat Salt 1-0 and held on to a slim lead as Jazira beat Hussein 2-0 to remain second ahead of their match with Aqaba.

Faisali moved up to third after they beat Ramtha 1-0, while Wihdat, who beat Sarieh 4-2 are fifth, edged closer to the lead ahead of their match against Shabab Urdun.

Aqaba are sixth after tying Baqa’a 1-1, while Ahli remained 10th after they held That Ras 0-0 and next play Ramtha, who are 11th. Sarih, who dropped to 9th, play 7th placed Hussein.

Regionally, Wihdat and Jazira kicked off the 16th Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup when they played their first matches of the second-tier Asian club competition. Wihdat beat Lebanon’s Nijmeh 1-0 in Group A which also includes Jerusalem’s Quds, and Syria’s Jeish while Jazira held Bahrain’s Nijmeh 1-1 in Group B, which includes AFC Cup titleholders Kuwait Club and Syria’s Ittihad. 

Wihdat lost to Kuwait Club 3-2 in the 2018/19 AFC Champions League. Jordanian teams have never before made it past the ACL preliminary round. The 2018/19 football season kicked off with league champs Wihdat beating Jordan Cup champs Jazira in the 36th Jordan Super Cup. 

Since the league kicked off in 1944, Faisali are record 33-time winners, while Wihdat won 16 times since they joined in 1980.