Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Amman: The Jordan Football Association has appointed Ahmed Abu Ismail as the new head coach of the national team.
Ismail is expected to lead Jordan at next year’s AFC Asian Cup where they will face reigning champions Japan, 2007 champions Iraq and AFC Challenge Cup 2014 champions Palestine in Group D.
The former That Ras coach, who won the Jordan Cup with them in 2013 to ensure the club’s first participation in the AFC Cup in 2014, will start with an international friendly match against Uzbekistan on September 3, before taking on fellow Asian Cup aspirants China in another friendly six days later.
According to the Jordan FA’s (JFA) official website, Ismail will supervise a training camp next week.
The 46-year old former Jordan international expressed his satisfaction with the trust the JFA had placed in him, saying: “The Jordan FA believes in local coaches as we have seen them appointing local coaches at youth level.”
The details of Ismail's contract have not been revealed and his tenure is said to be ‘for the upcoming period’.
JFA Acting General Secretary Fadi Zureikat has also made it clear that the appointment is on a temporary basis. It is likely that the JFA will decide Ismail's long-term future based on Jordan's performances in the upcoming friendlies.
Ismail was coach of the Jordan side at the AFC Youth Championship 2006, from which the Jordanians sealed a berth at the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Two years later, he was Jordan’s head coach for the AFC U-19 Championship 2008 where they failed to win a single match.
He also worked as assistant coach during the national team’s AFC Asian Cup 2011 campaign, as well as their World Cup 2014 qualifiers.