KUWAIT CITY, Aug 19: Al-Arabi Club has ended its relationship with Egyptian professional Abdelrahman Khaled, known as "Jebna," who had been signed earlier this August. This month also saw the club secure the services of Brazilian player Carlos Alberto, known as "Jaco."

In addition to Jebna and Jaco, Al-Arabi's roster includes Nigerian player Anabo Ayoala, Algerians Ahmed Khaldi and Sofiane Bouchar, Moroccan Hamza Khaba, as well as Algerian Imad Eddine Boubaker and Tunisian Aymen.

Boubaker and Aymen are under contract with Al-Arabi until the next season, but the club's technical staff informed the board last May that they were not interested in retaining the players due to their poor performance.

On a different note, Al-Arabi was placed in the first classification of the eighteen teams in the Asian Challenge Cup, alongside Bahrain's Al-Ahli and India's East Bengal. The group stage draw will take place next Thursday at the Asian Federation headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The group stage will feature the participating teams divided into five groups: three groups of four clubs from the western region and two groups of three clubs from the eastern region. The group stage matches will be held in a single-stage, round-robin format over three rounds from October 26 to November 2.

Hassan Musa

Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff