“Winter Champion 2026” ends the historic partnership between “Al-Zaeem” and “Dubai Knights”

The 13th round of the ADNOC Professional Football League, which begins today and continues over three days, decides the honorary title of “Winter Champion,” a title that usually gives initial indications about the identity of the competition’s champion. This season comes to end the historic partnership between Al Ain and Shabab Al Ahly in terms of the number of times it has been won, with five titles for each team.

Al Ain currently leads the standings with 30 points, and this evening it will play a strong confrontation against its guest, Al Wahda, as a victory will be enough to officially crown it with the honorary title.

On the other hand, “Dubai Knights” occupies second place with 29 points, and hopes that Al-Wahda will succeed in disrupting “Al-Zaeem” and then play its confrontation against Dibba the day after tomorrow to decide the honorary title. The current version is getting hotter due to the strong competition between the two teams, especially since the fans of both sides still remember the scenario of the 2015-2016 season, when Al Ain won the winter champion title, but Shabab Al Ahly had its say at the end of the season and was crowned champion, after collecting 66 points, leaving runner-up to “Al-Zaeem” with 57 points.

It is noteworthy that Al Ain maintained the lead since the fourth round, and continued to sit at the top, while Shabab Al Ahly did not rise to it at all this season, as its loss to Al Ain in the direct confrontation, in addition to the postponed matches, caused it to remain far from the lead, before it finally succeeded in reaching the second place, with only one point behind Al Ain.