Al Wahaibi wants to work closely with clubs for further development of Oman football

Muscat: Team work and professionalism were the main themes as Sheikh Salim Al Wahaibi, the unanimous choice to replace Sayyid Khalid bin Hamad Al Busaidi as the chairman of the Oman Football Association, spoke about his vision and strategy for further development of Sultanate’s soccer during a specially organised event on Monday night.
Sheikh Salim Al Wahaibi hosted the event at Grand Millennium Muscat to interact with the representatives of various clubs, officials from the Ministry of Sports Affairs, the Oman Football Association and other sports bodies as well as members of State Council and other dignitaries, and spoke at length about his plans for the future of Oman football.
A member of prominent business family that has always been involved in and patronised sports and sports activities, Sheikh Salim Al Wahaibi emerged as the lone candidate for the chairmanship and his take over from Sayyid Khalid as the OFA chief on September 29, the day of Oman football governing body’s board elections, is now a mere formality.
Sheikh Salim Al Wahaibi started Monday’s event with an impressive opening remarks in which he expressed his desire to work closely with all those associated with Oman football and sought the clubs co-operation in working as a team for the development of Sultanate’s soccer.
Later, he unveiled his eight-point strategy to achieve his objectives for the betterment of Oman football and those points included: development of football community, to enhance awareness and education about the sport, specialised and qualified human resources, proper use of modern communication methods to involve youth, attract more private sector support, administrative and technical development and more importantly transparency in all aspects of running the organisation.
Replying to a query, Sheikh Salim Al Wahaibi, who had previously served as the vice-chairman of the OFA, stressed the need to help Oman national team return to their former status as the region’s best.
“We will sincerely work towards helping our national team rise to the former status. Our main aim will be to make Oman team the best in the Gulf region as well as be among the best in the entire Asian region,” he said.
Speaking about the professionalism in the Sultanate soccer, he said: “It’s not enough if we have just one league (Omantel Professional League) run professionally with the support of sponsors. We want to take this professionalism into other divisions (leagues) as well as. We have to find a way to attract sponsors who will support these leagues,” he said.
Four-way contest
While Sheikh Salim Al Wahaibi will be unchallenged for the OFA chairmanship, the September 29 elections will see four candidates contestanting for the two vice-chairmanship posts and they are Issa Al Sunaidy, Ali Said Al Fadhil, Jassim Al Shukaili and Mohsin Al Masroori.
Meanwhile, a total of 28 candidates will vying for the posts of nine ordinary members.
According to a list provided earlier by the OFA, they are Saif Al Ghafri, Qutaibah Al Ghailani, Nasser Al Balushi, Sultan Al Hosni, Ibrahim Al Alawi, Nasr Al Wahaibi, Ahmed Al Rashidi, Hamed Al Maamari, Humeid Al Jabri, Mohammed Al Shuhi, Nasser Al Riyami, Ahmed Al Farsi, Mohammed Al Qasmi, Suleiman Al Habsi, Rabe’ea Auladthani, Abdulhakim Al Omairi, Abdullah Al Mardi, Malik Al Shuhi, Waleed Al Maskari, Said Al Hashmi, Anees Al Nahri, Younis Al Hajri, Ziyad Al Balushi, Jaber Al Mukhaini, Said Al Qasmi, Ahmed Al Salmani, Salim Al Rabee’a and Abdulhakim Al Shanfari.