The UAE Football Association has announced that it will provide an additional three private planes for fans of the national team to travel to Basra and support them in the second leg of the 2026 World Cup qualifier against Iraq. This brings the total number of planes available to eight.
Initially, on Saturday afternoon, the association announced that it had allocated five planes and set a registration period. However, it closed registration after only two hours, once all the slots had been filled. It then increased the number of planes to eight by adding three more to accommodate the high demand for travel.
This reflects the continued strong support of fans for the national team, which was evident in the fourth-round play-off in Doha and again in the first leg in Abu Dhabi against Iraq.