Amman – Jerash are one point away from an unprecedented historic achievement: qualifying for the professional football league.
The First Division league has entered its final stretch, with only two rounds left to decide the fate of an entire season. The race for the two promotion spots to the Professional League is wide open, while an equally fierce battle is under way to escape relegation to the Second Division.
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The competition is especially heated, with points close together and differing ambitions. While Jerash and Yarmouk seek to hold on to their places at the top, Amman FC and Sahl Hawran wait for any slip by the leaders to pounce on the promotion spots. Meanwhile, five teams face a decisive test to avoid relegation, under a league format in which the bottom four sides go down.
Jerash top the table on 23 points, but cannot afford to relax, especially as their last two matches, against Yarmouk and Amman FC, are heavyweight tests whose results could be decisive in determining who goes up.
Yarmouk are second on 20 points, focused on settling their direct contest with the leaders before finishing their campaign against Hay Al-Amir Hassan. They know any slip could hand their rivals a chance to change the picture.
Amman FC, third on 17 points, still hold on to hopes of promotion, but need to beat Maan and Jerash, and wait for one of the leaders to falter. Sahl Hawran, fourth on 16 points, enter the final two rounds with ambitions to compete until the end, when they face Hashemiya and Al-Ahli.
The match between Jerash and Yarmouk, along with Jerash's meeting with Amman FC, stands out as key moments of decision, while Sahl Hawran have no option but to hold on to their chance and wait for their rivals' results.
On the other side of the table, the calculations are harsher, with five teams battling to avoid relegation. Maan and Al-Ahli lead the group on 9 points each, followed by Al-Sareeh and Hay Al-Amir Hassan on 6, while Shabab Aqaba sit at the bottom on three points.
Maan play two matches, against Amman FC and Sama Al-Sarhan, while Al-Ahli meet Sama Al-Sarhan and Sahl Hawran, two tests requiring as many points as possible to secure a distance from the bottom four.
Al-Sareeh face Shabab Aqaba and then Hashemiya, an important opportunity to improve their position, while Hay Al-Amir Hassan meet Ittihad Al-Ramtha and Yarmouk, a mission that does not look easy. Shabab Aqaba, meanwhile, face Al-Sareeh and Ittihad Al-Ramtha, aware that any further defeat could bring them closer to relegation.
The Al-Sareeh versus Shabab Aqaba match stands out as the most important of this stage, as it pits two teams in the danger zone against each other, and its result could have a direct impact on survival calculations. The Maan versus Sama Al-Sarhan game also carries extra weight in the battle to escape the bottom.
The tenth round features contrasting fixtures: Sahl Hawran versus Hashemiya, Yarmouk versus Jerash, Amman FC versus Maan, Sama Al-Sarhan versus Al-Ahli, Al-Sareeh versus Shabab Aqaba, and Hay Al-Amir Hassan versus Ittihad Al-Ramtha.
In the final, eleventh round, Al-Ahli meet Sahl Hawran, Ittihad Al-Ramtha face Shabab Aqaba, Jerash play Amman FC, Maan meet Sama Al-Sarhan, Hashemiya face Al-Sareeh, and Hay Al-Amir Hassan play Yarmouk.
The Football Association's competitions department is expected to publish the dates for the tenth round over the next two days. When the league fixtures were released at the start of the season, the department chose to postpone setting the dates for the final two rounds until the competition neared its closing stages, given the importance of this phase and the sensitivity of the matches in the battle for promotion and relegation.
