Hamid Al Kamali has followed the path of his older brother Hamdan and is to pursue his football in Europe.
He has moved to the Maltese champions Valetta FC on a one-year loan deal from Al Wahda and, if successful, may become the first Emirati to play in the European Champions League.
Valetta meet FK Qarabag of Azerbaijan in tonight’s second qualifying round of the Champions League.
Hamdan, the UAE centre back spent six months on loan at Lyon, the Ligue 1 club in 2012 but never made a first team appearance.
His younger sibling has moved to a club where he stands a pretty good chance of making it to the first team.
Al Kamali, 21, who plays as a defender like his older brother, is not a regular in the Wahda first team. He has made 18 appearances, mostly coming off the bench, in his three seasons at the club.
Officials at Wahda were not available to talk on Al Kamali’s loan-deal or his chances of playing for Valetta tonight. It is highly unlikely because the player had travelled to Malta only on Friday.
Playing football in Europe is not an entirely new experience for some of the Emiratis as the Baniyas midfielder, Amer Abdulrahman, attended a trial at English club Blackburn Rovers last summer, and the Al Ain playmaker, Omar Abdulrahman, impressed on trial at Premier League champions Manchester City following the 2012 London Olympic Games.
apassela@thenational.ae
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