Teams eye last football title of season

AMMAN —  Hussein plays Salt and titleholders Wihdat meets Shabab Urdun  Sunday evening in the semifinals of the Jordan Cup - the last competition on the 2023/2024 football calendar.

In the quarterfinals, Salt ousted Sahab and Wihdat beat Ramtha in matches played during the Eid Al-Adha holiday while Shabab Urdun had eliminated Ma’an and Hussein beat Aqaba earlier.

Round of 16 matches saw Sahab stun Faisali, Wihdat eliminated Mughayer Sarhan, Shabab Urdun beat Sarih, Ramtha ousted Sama Al-Sarhan, Ma’an beat Ahli, Salt ousted Jazira, Aqaba beat Jalil and Hussein beat Yarmouk.

Since the Cup started in 1980, there have been 40 past editions with Faisali a record 21-time champions. Wihdat won 11 times, Jazira, Ramtha and Shabab Urdun twice, while Arabi, That Ras and Ahli won once each. 

This season, Hussein Irbid took home the coveted Professional Football League title for the first time following an impressive run, which saw them lose only one match. Hussein had to wait to the last stage of the competition, to be able to move the trophy out of the capital to Irbid with only a two-point edge over Faisali. Wihdat came in third, followed by Ramtha, Salt, Ma’an, Aqaba, Shabab Urdun , Mughayer Sarhan and Ahli. Sahab and Jalil and were relegated.

Sarih and Jazira will be back to the Pro League next season  The latter, a three-time league champion, were relegated for the fourth time– 1977, 1992, 2003, 2022 after the club was a frontrunner in the past few years and played in the AFC West Asia Zone final in 2018 and 2019. 

Like neighbors Ramtha,who won the 2021 season title for the third time in their history after 39 years, Hussein, changed the usual Faisali-Wihdat dominance of the title becoming the 9th team to win the League since it kicked off in 1944 with only Faisali, Ahli, Urdun and Homenetmen clubs competing. Faisali are 35-time record league champs while Wihdat won 17 times since first joining in 1980. Ahli won eight times, Ramtha and Jazira three times, Shabab Urdun twice, Hussein, Amman and Urdun clubs once.

In addition to the League, the season saw Wihdat win the Jordan Super Cup for their 15th time, while Faisali won their 9th Jordan Football Association Shield. 

Regionally, this season saw Wihdat and Faisali failing to advance beyond Round 1 at AFC Cup and Champions League respectively.

Jordan Cup champions record 

(Runner- up in parenthesis)

• 1980Faisali (Baqa'a)
• 1981Faisali (Ramtha)
• 1982Wihdat (Ahli)
• 1983Faisali (Ramtha)
• 1984Jazira (Ahli)
• 1985Wihdat (Faisali)
• 1986Arabi (Jazira)
• 1987Faisali (Hussein)
• 1988Wihdat (Faisali)
• 1989Faisali (Ramtha)
• 1990Ramtha (Hussein)
• 1991Ramtha (Wihdat)
• 1992Faisali  (Wihdat)
• 1993Faisali (Ramtha)
• 1994Faisali (Ramtha)
• 1995Faisali (Ramtha)
• 1996Wihdat (Ramtha)
• 1997Wihdat (Ramtha)
• 1998Faisali (Wihdat)
• 1999Faisali (Wihdat)
• 2000Wihdat (Faisali)
• 2001Faisali (Hussein)
• 2002Faisali (Hussein)
• 2003 Faisali (Hussein)
• 2004 Faisali (Sh. Hussein)
• 2005 Shabab Urdun (Faisali)
• 2006 Shabab Urdun (Faisali)
• 2007Faisali (Shabab Urdun)
• 2008 Wihdat (Shabab Urdun)
• 2009Wihdat (Arabi)
• 2010Wihdat (Manshieh)
• 2011Faisali (Manshieh)
• 2012That Ras (Ramtha)
• 2013Wihdat (Baqa'a)
• 2014Faisali (That Ras)
• 2015Ahli (Shabab Urdun)
• 2016Faisali (Jazira)
• 2017Jazira (Shabab Urdun)
• 2018Faisali (Ramtha)
• 2019       20 not held
• 2021Faisali (Salt)
• 2022Wihdat (Aqaba)