Football’s unlikeliest global brand: how Fleetwood made it big in the UAE

Fleetwood United’s celebrations on becoming second division champions in the United Arab Emirates could not be dampened even by a freak thunderstorm in Dubai. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” the captain Ben Pringle told the Guardian. “It was the most rain they have had for 75 years. Cars were underwater on the motorway.”

This is not supposed to happen in the glittering city of skyscrapers and excitement but then Fleetwood Town, a club that have just dropped into England’s fourth tier, are not really supposed to be at the head of a stable of international clubs that also includes Waterford FC in Ireland and Western Cape Fleetwood in South Africa.

“It is similar to the City Football Group but on a much smaller scale,” Pringle says. “We are trying to find those players from parts of the world like Senegal or Canada then potentially send them to England or Ireland if they are good enough.”

Trading players is a big part of the business plan according, to club secretary Will Watt. “Since Brexit that has become more difficult in Europe,” Watt says. “One way to negate that is to open clubs in other territories, develop players under your banner and to either sell them to clubs in other countries or when they are 18, bring them to England where they can add real value.”

It is needed for a club like Fleetwood. “We have only 25,000 people living here and 2,000 season-ticket holders and have been competing with the likes of Bolton and Derby for years,” said Watt. Enter Dubai and it helps that it is actually quite easy to do so. “Dubai’s visa requirements are very open, so there are plenty of Africans and South Americans.”

From next season Fleetwood are in the UAE’s second tier and players who get enough minutes earn points that can help them go to Europe and the United Kingdom. “Then we can sell them or get them into Waterford,” said Watt. “If we can find one top-class Brazilian striker, for example, then it could pay for all four clubs for 20 years.”

Being in the second tier also means funding from the UAE league and the possibility of Fleetwood being sustainable. That, across all the clubs in the group, was the goal of Andy Pilley. Fleetwood Town are still trying to escape the shadow of their former chairman. This local fan and man made good, with business interests in South Africa and UAE, started this project. In 2023 however, Pilley was jailed for 13 years for selling fraudulent energy contracts. The club has tried to distance itself from all this but he remains the owner. That may not be the case for much longer but still, it has been a tough 12 months, on and off the pitch.

Less so for Fleetwood’s Middle East outpost where the clear blue skies have offered a new start for Pringle. The 35-year-old accepted the offer that came his way in 2023 after 15 years in the lower leagues in England – many games came for Rotherham United but there were spells at Fulham, Ipswich and Derby. He made the move from Altrincham last year. “Mentally, I was done,” Pringle says. “It’s just doing it for that long, week in, week out, sitting on the same bus on the away trips, listening to the same voices and hearing the same cliches. Now, this is the most I have loved football in 10 years. I feel like I am 21 now, looking forward to training and all of it.”

The weather helps, though it took some getting used to. “We started pre-season in August which is still stupidly hot. Early mornings and evenings were still very humid. You have to learn to play in that kind of heat, trying to time your runs, you can’t make the box every time and get back and defend every time. You have to pace yourself.”

The UAE stages one of the better leagues in Asia, perhaps a level below Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. Al-Ain, coached by Hernán Crespo, were Asian champions in 2003 and have just defeated Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia to reach the final of the 2024 Asian Champions League.

While crowds in the third tier were almost non-existent, the standard wasn’t bad. “I thought it may be like Sunday league but it is much better,” says Pringle. “There are a lot of African players and it is physical and fast. Technically, some of the teams we played weren’t the best but the quality will go up in the first division.”

There are other benefits to moving up. “We will now be in the President’s Cup with the Pro League teams and we could face Andrés Iniesta [the Spaniard plays for Emirates] but the real aim is to try and get promoted to the top tier.”