United Arab Emirates national football team

United Arab Emirates
Nickname(s)	The White Jersey; Eyal Zayed (Zayed's sons)
Association	U.A.E. Football Association
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation	WAFF (West Asia)
Head coach	Mahdi Ali
Captain	Ahmed Khalil
Most caps	Adnan Al Talyani (161)
Top scorer	Adnan Al Talyani (52)
FIFA code	UAE
First colours	Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	66 8 (15 September 2016)
Highest	42 (November–December 1998)
Lowest	138 (January 2012)
Elo ranking
Current	60 (28 June 2016)
Highest	37 (15 January 2015)
Lowest	151 (September 1981)
First international
	United Arab Emirates 1–0 Qatar ; (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; March 17, 1972)
Biggest win
	Brunei 0–12 United Arab Emirates ; (B. S. Begawan, Brunei; April 14, 2001)
Biggest defeat
	United Arab Emirates 0–8 Brazil ; (Abu Dhabi, UAE; November 12, 2005)
World Cup
Appearances	1 (First in 1990)
Best result	Group stage, 1990
Asian Cup
Appearances	9 (First in 1980)
Best result	Runners-up, 1996
Confederations Cup
Appearances	1 (First in 1997)
Best result	Group stage, 1997

The United Arab Emirates national football team (Arabic: منتخب الإمارات العربية المتحدة لكرة القدم‎‎) represents the United Arab Emirates in association football and is controlled by the United Arab Emirates Football Association, the governing body for football in United Arab Emirates and competes in AFC. They were for a time managed by legendary English manager Don Revie.

United Arab Emirates' home ground varies. Most home games have been played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi with Abu Dhabi's Al Jazira Stadium and Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain as other venues

It has made one World Cup appearance, in 1990 in Italy, but lost all three of its games to Colombia, West Germany and Yugoslavia. Two years later the UAE took fourth place in the 1992 Asian Cup, and runner-up in 1996 as hosts of the tournament. In both tournaments their final match was lost on penalty kicks. They also won the Gulf Cup of Nations on two occasions – in 2007 when they won a title for the first time in their history and then in 2013. They finished third in the recent AFC Asian Cup and will be hosting the next edition in 2019.

History[edit]

Early years[edit]

The first match of UAE national football team was played on 17 March 1972, four months after the union of the United Arab Emirates. They played against Qatar at Riyadh's Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium and UAE won 1–0 with the only goal scored by Ahmed Chowbi. Then, the team faced three other Arabian countries, losing 4–0 and 7–0 to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait respectively and beating Bahrain 3 nothing.

After participating in four Gulf Cup of Nations since 1972, the UAE hosted the 1982 edition. They again finished third, as they did in the two previous tournaments.

First Asian Cup appearances[edit]

In 1980, UAE qualified for the first time for the AFC Asian Cup, which was held in Kuwait. They were drawn with eventual winners, Kuwait, runner-up South Korea, Malaysia and Qatar in Group B. They drew 1–1 with Kuwait but lost the three other matches and finished their first appearance at the tournament in fifth place in their group and ninth (out of ten teams) overall.

They also qualified for next two tournaments, 1984 in Singapore and 1988 in Qatar and were again eliminated in the group stages in both. Their first victory of the tournament occurred against India on 7 December 1984 under manager Heshmat Mohajerani.

1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy[edit]

In 1984, Mohajerani resigned as UAE head coach and was replaced with former Brazil manager Carlos Alberto Parreira. Parreira led the country at the 1988 AFC Asian Cup and left his position after the tournament. He was succeeded by Brazilian World Cup winning coach Mário Zagallo. Zagallo led the country to qualification for the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. However, Zagallo resigned before the tournament and Parreira returned as head coach to lead UAE at the tournament.

They were drawn at Group D along with eventual winner West Germany, Colombia and Yugoslavia. They lost 2–0 to Colombia, 5–1 to West Germany and 4–1 to Yugoslavia. They finished fourth with no points, scoring two goals and conceding eleven goals. UAE's first goal at the tournament was scored by Khalid Ismaïl against West Germany. After the tournament, Parreira was sacked. Two years later, at the 1992 AFC Asian Cup, UAE finished in fourth place, their best finish up to that date.

1996 AFC Asian Cup[edit]

UAE hosted 1996 AFC Asian Cup. They hired Croatian coach Tomislav Ivić one year before the tournament and were drawn in Group A along with Kuwait, South Korea and Indonesia. They drew 1–1 with South Korea in the opening match, then defeated Kuwait 3–2 and Indonesia 2–0 to qualify as group winners with seven points. In the quarter-finals, they beat Iraq 1–0 with a golden goal scored by Abdulrahman Ibrahim in the 103rd minute in extra time. They again faced Kuwait, this time at the semi-finals and won 1–0 to qualify to the final for the first time. In the final, they lost to Saudi Arabia in a penalty shout-out and finished the tournament as runner-up, which is still their best finish in the AFC Asian Cup.

The tournament was also considered to be one of the best tournaments held since 1956. The tournament had an average 3.08 goals per game with 80 goals scored, 49 goals higher than the previous edition.

UAE also appeared in 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup after being awarded a spot because Asian winners Saudi Arabia was hosting the games. They lost the first match 2–0 to Uruguay. Then, they defeated South Africa 1–0. In their final match, they were defeated 6–1 by Czech Republic and missed their chance to qualify for the next round finishing third in their group.

Fahad Khamees captained UAE in the 1990 FIFA World Cup

Dark years[edit]

Despite their good performances at previous Asian Cup, UAE missed qualification for the 2000 AFC Asian Cup in Lebanon. They also finished in last place at the 2002 Gulf Cup of Nations.

They were eliminated in the next three AFC Asian Cup tournaments at the group stage. Their worst performance was in 2011 when they finished the tournament goalless. At this time, many notable coaches managed UAE, including Carlos Queiroz, Roy Hodgson and Dick Advocaat. In 2006, UAE appointed Senegal's 2002 FIFA World Cup head coach, Bruno Metsu as their new manager. He led UAE to the 2007 Gulf Cup of Nations title, the country's first major achievement.

Recent successes[edit]

After hiring many notable European coaches, in 2012, UAE appointed Olympic team coach Mahdi Ali as the new manager of the national team. Ali previously led the country to their first ever appearance at the Olympic Games.

Ali began creating a young squad for UAE, inviting many players that he had worked with at youth level. He led UAE to their second Gulf Cup of Nations title in 2013.

2015 AFC Asian Cup[edit]

UAE's form at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup was a surprise. They were drawn in Group C along with Iran, Qatar and Bahrain. They defeated Qatar 4–1 in their first match. At the next match, they defeated Bahrain 2–1 which qualified them for the knockout stage. In the group's final game, UAE lost 1–0 to Iran and advanced as group runner-up. They faced defending champions Japan in the quarter-final and won the match in a penalty shootout to advance to the last four. However, they lost 2–0 to host country Australia in the semi-finals. In the third place play-off, they beat Iraq 3–2 and finished the tournament in the third place. UAE will be hosting the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

2018 FIFA World Cup Qualification[edit]

UAE had to face Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Timor-Leste and Malaysia in the Group A of the AFC Qualification Second Round. They ended second in the Group behind Saudi Arabia and in front of Palestine, Malaysia and Timor-Leste. In the Third Round, they will be facing Australia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Thailand in Group B.

Nicknames[edit]

The United Arab Emirates is known by supporters and the media as Al-Abyad, meaning The White jersey and also Eyal Zayed which means Zayed's sons.

In October 2012, the Asian Football Confederation official website published an article about the UAE national team's campaign to qualify for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, in which the team was referred to as the "Sand Monkeys." This was the indirect result of vandalism of the Wikipedia article on the team, and the AFC was forced to apologise for what was perceived as a racist slur.^[1]

Home stadium[edit]

UAE's main national stadium is Sheikh Zayed Stadium, located in capital Abu Dhabi. However, UAE has also used Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium (Al Jazira Stadium) and Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain.

Historical Kits[edit]


1990 Home	1990 Away	1992 Asian Cup Home	1994 Asian Games Home	1994 Asian Games Away

Coaching staff[edit]

Head coach	Mahdi Ali
Assistant coach	Abdullah Masfar
Goalkeeping coach	Branko Davidović
Fitness coach	Pierre Barrieu
Team doctor	Ammar Awad
Technical director	Bernhard Schumm

Players[edit]

Current squad[edit]

The following 23 players were called up for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers:
Match date: 6 and 11 October 2016
Opposition: Thailand and Saudi Arabia
Caps and goals are correct as of 6 September 2016, after the match against Australia.

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Ali Khasif	(1987-06-09) 9 June 1987 (age 29)	22	0	Al-Jazira
12	1GK	Khalid Eisa	(1989-09-15) 15 September 1989 (age 27)	16	0	Al-Ain
22	1GK	Ahmed Mahmoud	(1989-03-30) 30 March 1989 (age 27)	3	0	Baniyas

3	2DF	Walid Abbas	(1985-06-11) 11 June 1985 (age 31)	69	5	Al Ahli
6	2DF	Mohanad Salem	(1985-03-01) 1 March 1985 (age 31)	46	2	Al-Ain
8	2DF	Hamdan Al-Kamali	(1989-05-12) 12 May 1989 (age 27)	33	5	Al-Wahda
9	2DF	Abdulaziz Haikal	(1990-09-10) 10 September 1990 (age 26)	28	5	Al Ahli
14	2DF	Mohammed Fayez	(1989-10-06) 6 October 1989 (age 26)	5	0	Al-Ain
18	2DF	Mohamed Fawzi	(1990-02-22) 22 February 1990 (age 26)	32	0	Al-Jazira
19	2DF	Ismail Ahmed	(1983-07-07) 7 July 1983 (age 33)	25	1	Al-Ain
20	2DF	Sultan Al-Shamsi	(1996-06-22) 22 June 1996 (age 20)	1	1	Al-Jazira
23	2DF	Mohamed Ahmed	(1989-04-16) 16 April 1989 (age 27)	49	2	Al-Ain
25	2DF	Salem Sultan	(1993-05-09) 9 May 1993 (age 23)	1	0	Al-Wahda

4	3MF	Habib Fardan	(1990-03-12) 12 March 1990 (age 26)	47	6	Al Ahli
5	3MF	Amer Abdulrahman	(1989-07-03) 3 July 1989 (age 27)	45	2	Al-Ain
10	3MF	Omar Abdulrahman	(1991-09-20) 20 September 1991 (age 25)	55	6	Al-Ain
13	3MF	Khamis Ismail	(1989-08-16) 16 August 1989 (age 27)	26	3	Al Ahli
15	3MF	Ismail Al Hammadi	(1988-07-01) 1 July 1988 (age 28)	92	14	Al Ahli
16	3MF	Mohamed Abdulrahman	(1989-02-04) 4 February 1989 (age 27)	27	1	Al-Ain

2	4FW	Salem Saleh	(1991-01-14) 14 January 1991 (age 25)	12	5	Al-Nasr
7	4FW	Ali Mabkhout	(1990-10-05) 5 October 1990 (age 25)	44	34	Al-Jazira
11	4FW	Ahmed Khalil	(1991-06-08) 8 June 1991 (age 25)	76	39	Al Ahli
24	4FW	Mohamed Al-Akbari	(1996-03-15) 15 March 1996 (age 20)	3	1	Al-Wahda

Recent and forthcoming fixtures[edit]

2016[edit]

16 January 2016 Friendly	United Arab Emirates	2–1	Iceland	Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
	Al Hammadi 26' Mabkhout 47'	Report	Kjartansson 14'	Stadium: Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium Attendance: 500

18 March 2016 Friendly	United Arab Emirates	6–1	Bangladesh	Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
	Al Hammadi 10', 73' Khalil 66' Saleh 83', 87' Mabkhout 90' (pen.)		? 15'	Stadium: Zayed Sports City Stadium Referee: 15,822

24 March 2016 2018 FIFA World Cup Q	United Arab Emirates	2–0	Palestine	Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
	Al Hammadi 33' Khalil 60' (pen.)			Stadium: Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium Attendance: 15,822 Referee: Ben Williams (Australia)

29 March 2016 2018 FIFA World Cup Q	United Arab Emirates	1–1	Saudi Arabia	Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
	O. Abdulrahman 52'		Al-Jassim 24'	Stadium: Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium Attendance: 32,325 Referee: Nawaf Shukralla (Bahrain)

3 June 2016 2016 King's Cup	United Arab Emirates	1–3	Jordan	Bangkok, Thailand
17:00 UTC+7:00	Al-Shamsi 45+2'		Abdel-Rahman 8' Al-Dardour 50' Khairullah 68'	Stadium: Rajamangala Stadium Referee: Aziz Asimov (Uzbekistan)

5 June 2016 2016 King's Cup	United Arab Emirates	0–1	Syria	Bangkok, Thailand
17:00 UTC+7:00				Stadium: Rajamangala Stadium

1 September 2016 2018 FIFA World Cup Q	Japan	1–2	United Arab Emirates	Saitama, Japan
			Khalil 20' Khalil 54' (pen.)	Stadium: Saitama Stadium 2002 Attendance: 67,700

6 September 2016 World Cup Q	United Arab Emirates	0–1	Australia	Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
19:30 UTC+4		Report Report (FIFA) Report (AFC)	Cahill 75'	Stadium: Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium Attendance: 40,893 Referee: Mohd Amirul Izwan Yaacob (Malaysia)

6 October 2016 2018 FIFA World Cup Q	United Arab Emirates	v	Thailand	Abu Dhabi, UAE
				Stadium: Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium

11 October 2016 2018 FIFA World Cup Q	Saudi Arabia	v	United Arab Emirates

15 November 2016 2018 FIFA World Cup Q	United Arab Emirates	v	Iraq	Abu Dhabi, UAE
				Stadium: Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium

2017[edit]

23 March 2017 2018 FIFA World Cup Q	United Arab Emirates	v	Japan	Abu Dhabi, UAE
				Stadium: Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium

28 March 2017 2018 FIFA World Cup Q	Australia	v	United Arab Emirates

13 June 2017 2018 FIFA World Cup Q	Thailand	v	United Arab Emirates	Bangkok, Thailand
				Stadium: Rajamangala Stadium

31 August 2017 2018 FIFA World Cup Q	United Arab Emirates	v	Saudi Arabia	Abu Dhabi, UAE
				Stadium: Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium

5 September 2017 2018 FIFA World Cup Q	Iraq	v	United Arab Emirates

Tournament records[edit]

FIFA World Cup record[edit]

World Cup record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1930 to 1974	Not eligible to enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1978	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1982	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1986	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1990	Group stage	24th	3	0	0	3	2	11
1994 to 2014	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2018	TBD	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2022	TBD	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	Round 1	1/22	3	0	0	3	2	11

* Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

AFC Asian Cup record[edit]

Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1956 to 1976	Did not enter
1980	Group stage	9th	4	0	1	3	3	9
1984	Group stage	6th	4	2	0	2	3	8
1988	Group stage	8th	4	1	0	3	2	4
1992	Fourth place	4th	3	1	2	0	2	1
1996	Runners-up	2nd	6	4	2	0	8	3
2000	Did not qualify
2004	Group stage	15th	3	0	1	2	1	5
2007	Group stage	12th	3	1	0	2	3	6
2011	Group stage	13th	3	0	1	2	0	4
2015	Third place	3rd	6	3	1	2	10	8
2019	Qualified	–	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	9/16	Second place	36	12	8	16	32	48

FIFA Confederations Cup record[edit]

FIFA Confederations Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA
1992	Did not qualify
1995	Did not qualify
1997	Group stage	6th	3	1	0	2	2	8
1999	Did not qualify
2001
2003
2005
2009
2013
2017
Total	Group stage	1/10	3	1	0	2	2	8

Gulf Cup of Nations record[edit]

Year	Host Country	Place
1970	Bahrain	Did not enter
1972	Saudi Arabia	Third place
1974	Kuwait	Fourth place
1976	Qatar	Third place
1979	Iraq	Sixth place
1982	UAE	Third place
1984	Oman	Fourth place
1986	Bahrain	Runners-up
1988	Saudi Arabia	Runners-up
1990	Kuwait	Fifth place
1992	Qatar	Fourth place
1994	UAE	Runners-up
1996	Oman	Fourth place
1998	Bahrain	Third place
2002	Saudi Arabia	Sixth place
2003	Kuwait	Fifth place
2004	Qatar	Group stage
2007	UAE	Champions
2009	Oman	Group Stage
2010	Yemen	Semi-finals
2013	UAE	Champions
2014	Saudi Arabia	Third place

Records[edit]

Active players are shown in Bold. As of November 12, 2015.

Most Caps^[2]
#	Player	Caps	Goals	Career
1	Adnan Al Talyani	161	52	1983–1997
2	Subait Khater	120	1	1999–2011
3	Abdulrahim Jumaa	115	13	1998–2009
4	Ismail Matar	113	34	2003–
5	Zuhair Bakheet	112	27	1988–2002
6	Abdulsalam Jumaa	111	7	1997–2010
7	Muhsin Musabah	106	0	1988–1999
8	Mohammed Omar	102	28	1996–2009

Top Goalscorers
#	Player	Goals	Caps	Career
1	Adnan Al Talyani	52	161	1983–1997
2	Ahmed Khalil	39	74	2008–
3	Ismail Matar	34	113	2003–
4	Ali Mabkhout	33	44	2012–
5	Mohammad Omar	28	102	1996–2009
6	Zuhair Bakheet	27	112	1988–2002
7	Saeed Al Kass	15	60	1998–2013
8	Abdulrahim Jumaa	13	115	1998–2009

Honors[edit]

Major competitions

AFC Asian Cup

Runner-up (1): 1996

Third place (1): 2015

Fourth place (1): 1992

Gulf Cup of Nations

Winners (2): 2007, 2013

Runner-up (3): 1986, 1988, 1994

Third place (5): 1972, 1976, 1982, 1998, 2014

Minor competitions

Kirin Cup

Winners (1): 2005

References[edit]

^ Yahoo! Sports: Asian Football Confederation apologize for calling UAE national team ‘Sand Monkeys’
^ Roberto Mamrud; Karel Stokkermans. "Players with 100+ Caps and 30+ International Goals". RSSSF. Archived from the original on March 22, 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-05.

Notes[edit]

External links[edit]

UAE Football Association official website (Arabic)

[1] Yahoo! Sports: Asian Football Confederation apologize for calling UAE national team ‘Sand Monkeys’

[2] Roberto Mamrud; Karel Stokkermans. "Players with 100+ Caps and 30+ International Goals". RSSSF. Archived from the original on March 22, 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-05.

[1]

[2]

v t e Football in the United Arab Emirates

UAEFA UFL PLC

National teams	Men's national team U-23 U-20 U-17 Women's national team Men's Futsal Beach Soccer

League System	Arabian Gulf League Reserve League (defunct) U21 League Division 1 Group A Division 1 Group B

Domestic cups	President's Cup League Cup Super Cup Federation Cup (defunct) Vice Presidents Cup (defunct) FA Cup (defunct)

International Competitions	AFC Champions League Gulf Club Champions Cup Arab Champions League

Clubs Records

v t e International association football

FIFA Federations Teams Competitions World Cup U-17 U-20 Confederations Cup Olympics Youth Olympics Universiade World Rankings Player of the Year Ballon d'Or

Asia	AFC – Asian Cup U-23 U-19 U-16 U-14 Regional (ASEAN, EAFF, SAFF, WAFF)

Africa	CAF – Africa Cup of Nations U-23 U-20 U-17 Regional (CECAFA, CEMAC, COSAFA, WAFU)

North America, Central America and the Caribbean	CONCACAF – Gold Cup U-20 U-17 U-15

South America	CONMEBOL – Copa América U-20 U-17 U-15

Oceania	OFC – Nations Cup U-20 U-17

Europe	UEFA – European Championship U-21 U-19 U-17

Non-FIFA	NF-Board – Viva World Cup CONIFA - ConIFA World Football Cup ConIFA European Football Cup IGA - Island Games

Games	African Games Asian Games Central America Central America and Caribbean East Asian Games Francophonie Games Indian Ocean Island Lusophony Games Mediterranean Games Pan American Games Pan Arab Games Pacific Games South Asian Games Southeast Asian Games

See also Geography Debuts Codes Player of the Century Women's football

v t e National football teams of Asia (AFC)

Southeast Asia (AFF)	Australia Brunei Cambodia Indonesia Laos Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Timor-Leste Vietnam

Central Asia (CAFA)	Afghanistan Iran Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan

East Asia (EAFF)	China PR Chinese Taipei Guam Hong Kong Japan Korea DPR Korea Republic Macau Mongolia Northern Mariana Islands¹

South Asia (SAFF)	Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka

West Asia (WAFF)	Bahrain Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria United Arab Emirates Yemen

Defunct	North Vietnam South Vietnam South Yemen

Former	Israel (moved to UEFA in 1994) Kazakhstan (moved to UEFA in 2002) New Zealand (formed the OFC in 1966)

¹ Provisional Associate Member - Not a member of FIFA

v t e National sports teams of the United Arab Emirates

American football Beach soccer Cricket M W Football M W M U/23 M U/20 M U/17 Futsal Ice hockey M W M U/20 M U/18 Olympics Paralympics Rugby league Rugby union Tennis