United Arab Emirates national football team

United Arab Emirates
Nickname(s)	Al-Abyad (The White), Eyal Zayed (Zayed's Sons)
Association	U.A.E. Football Association
Sub-confederation	WAFF (West Asia)
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Head coach	Mahdi Ali
Captain	Ismail Matar
Most caps	Adnan Al Talyani (161)
Top scorer	Adnan Al Talyani (52)
Home stadium	Sheikh Zayed Stadium
FIFA code	UAE
FIFA ranking	66 14 (12 February 2015)
Highest FIFA ranking	42 (November 1998)
Lowest FIFA ranking	138 (January 2012)
Elo ranking	47 (6 February 2015)
Highest Elo ranking	37 (15 January 2015)
Lowest Elo ranking	151 (September 1981)
First colours	Second colours
First international
	United Arab Emirates 1–0 Qatar ; (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)
Asian Cup
Appearances	9 (First in 1980)
Best result	Runner-up; 1996
Confederations Cup
Appearances	1 (First in 1997)
Best result	Quarter Finals

The United Arab Emirates national football team (Arabic: الامارات 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. United Arab Emirates' home ground is Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. The team is popularly known as Al-Abyad (The Whites).

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. In both tournaments their final match was lost on penalty kicks. In 2007 the UAE beat Oman 1–0 to win the Gulf Cup for the first time in their history.

FIFA World Cup record[edit]

World Cup record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1930 to 1974	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1978	Withdrew	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1982	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1986	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1990	Group Stage	24th	3	0	0	3	2	11
1994 to 2014	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	Round 1	1/20	3	0	0	3	2	11

* Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

AFC Asian Cup record[edit]

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

Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Gulf Cup of Nations record[edit]

Year	Host Country	Place
1970	Bahrain	Did not enter
1972	Saudi Arabia	Third place
1974	Kuwait	4th place
1976	Qatar	Third place
1979	Iraq	6th place
1982	UAE	Third place
1984	Oman	4th place
1986	Bahrain	Runner-up
1988	Saudi Arabia	Runner-up
1990	Kuwait	5th place
1992	Qatar	4th place
1994	UAE	Runner-up
1996	Oman	4th place
1998	Bahrain	Third place
2002	Saudi Arabia	6th place
2003	Kuwait	5th place
2004	Qatar	Group Stage
2007	UAE	Champion
2009	Oman	Group Stage
2010	Yemen	Semi-Final
2013	Bahrain	Champion
2014	Saudi Arabia	Third place

FIFA Confederations Cup[edit]

FIFA Confederations Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA	Squad
1992	Did Not Qualify
1995	Did Not Qualify
1997	Group Stage	6th	3	1	0	2	2	8	Squad
1999	Did Not Qualify
2001
2003
2005
2009
2013
2017
Total	Group Stage	1/9	3	1	0	2	2	8	-

Achievements[edit]

Asian Cup: Runner-up 1996
Kirin Cup Winners 2005
Gulf Cup of Nations: Winners 2007, 2013
Asian Games: Runners-up 2010

Players[edit]

Current squad[edit]

Match Date: 11–30 January 2015 (2015 AFC Asian Cup)
Opposition: Iraq
Caps and goals correct as of: 30 January 2015 after match against Iraq

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Majed Naser (c)	(1984-04-01) 1 April 1984 (age 30)	69	0	Al-Wasl
12	1GK	Khalid Eisa	(1989-09-15) 15 September 1989 (age 25)	1	0	Al Ain
22	1GK	Mohamed Yousif	(1991-05-25) 25 May 1991 (age 23)	0	0	Sharjah

3	2DF	Walid Abbas	(1985-06-11) 11 June 1985 (age 29)	20	4	Al-Ahli
6	2DF	Mohanad Salem	(1985-03-01) 1 March 1985 (age 30)	8	0	Al-Ain
8	2DF	Hamdan Al-Kamali	(1989-05-02) 2 May 1989 (age 25)	33	0	Valletta
9	2DF	Abdulaziz Hussain	(1990-09-10) 10 September 1990 (age 24)	11	0	Al-Ahli
14	2DF	Abdelaziz Sanqour	(1989-05-07) 7 May 1989 (age 25)	8	0	Al Ahli
18	2DF	Mohammed Fawzi	(1990-02-22) 22 February 1990 (age 25)	4	0	Al-Ain
19	2DF	Mohamed Ismail Ahmed Ismail	(1983-07-01) 1 July 1983 (age 31)	3	0	Al Ain
23	2DF	Mohamed Ahmed	(1989-04-16) 16 April 1989 (age 25)	13	0	Al-Ain

2	3MF	Hassan Ibrahim	(1990-10-19) 19 October 1990 (age 24)	4	0	Al Shabab
4	3MF	Habib Fardan	(1990-11-11) 11 November 1990 (age 24)	18	7	Al-Nasr
5	3MF	Amer Abdulrahman	(1989-07-03) 3 July 1989 (age 25)	43	2	Baniyas
10	3MF	Omar Abdulrahman	(1991-09-20) 20 September 1991 (age 23)	32	3	Al Ain
13	3MF	Khamis Esmaeel	(1989-08-16) 16 August 1989 (age 25)	12	0	Al Jazira Club
15	3MF	Ismail Al Hammadi	(1988-07-01) 1 July 1988 (age 26)	56	7	Al-Ahli
16	3MF	Mohamed Abdulrahman	(1989-01-01) 1 January 1989 (age 26)	5	0	Al Ain
17	3MF	Majed Hassan	(1992-08-01) 1 August 1992 (age 22)	7	1	Al-Ahli
21	3MF	Haboush Saleh	(1989-07-13) 13 July 1989 (age 25)	9	0	Baniyas

7	4FW	Ali Mabkhout	(1990-10-05) 5 October 1990 (age 24)	37	25	Al Jazira Club
11	4FW	Ahmed Khalil	(1991-06-08) 8 June 1991 (age 23)	63	27	Al Ahli
20	4FW	Saeed Al-Kathiri	(1988-03-28) 28 March 1988 (age 26)	16	4	Al-Wahda

Coaches[edit]

Bruno Metsu, the former manager of the United Arab Emirates.

Manager	From	To
Mohammed Sheita	1972	1973
Jumaa Gharib	1973	1973
Mohammed Sheita	1973	1974
Mimi El-Sherbini	1975	1975
Jumaa Gharib	1975	1976
Dimitri Tadić	1976	1976
Don Revie	1977	1980
Heshmat Mohajerani	1980	1984
Carlos Alberto Parreira	1984	1988
Mario Zagallo	1988	1990
Bernhard Blaut	1990	1990
Valery Lobanovsky	1990	1993
Antoni Piechniczek	1993	1995
Tomislav Ivić	1995	1996
Lori Sandri	1997	1997
Milan Máčala	1997	1997
Lori Sandri	1998	1998
Carlos Queiroz	1998	1999
Srećko Juričić	1999	1999
Abdullah Masfar	2000	2000
Henri Michel	2000	2001
Abdullah Saqr	2001	2001
Tini Ruijs	2001	2001
Jo Bonfrere	2001	2002
Roy Hodgson	2002	2004
Aad De Mos	2004	2005
Dick Advocaat	2005	2005
Bruno Metsu	2006	2008
Dominique Bathenay	2008	2009
Srečko Katanec	2009	2011
Abdullah Masfar	2011	2012
Mahdi Ali	2012	Present

Recent and forthcoming fixtures[edit]

2014[edit]

Friendly 10 October 2014	United Arab Emirates	0 – 0	Australia	Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
18:30 (UTC+4)				Stadium: Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium Referee: Vladislav Tseytlin (Uzbekistan)

Friendly 14 October 2014	United Arab Emirates	0 – 4	Uzbekistan	Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Friendly 6 November 2014	United Arab Emirates	3 – 2	Lebanon	Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

2014 Gulf Cup of Nations 14 November 2014	United Arab Emirates	0 – 0	Oman	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
				Stadium: Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium

2014 Gulf Cup of Nations 17 November 2014	United Arab Emirates	2 – 2	Kuwait	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
				Stadium: Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium

2014 Gulf Cup of Nations 20 November 2014	United Arab Emirates	2 – 0	Iraq	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
				Stadium: King Fahd International Stadium

2014 Gulf Cup of Nations 23 November 2014	Saudi Arabia	3 – 2	United Arab Emirates	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
				Stadium: King Fahd International Stadium

2014 Gulf Cup of Nations 25 November 2014	United Arab Emirates	1 – 0	Oman	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
				Stadium: Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium

Friendly 30 December 2014	United Arab Emirates	1 – 0	Jordan	Gold Coast, Australia
				Stadium: Robina Stadium

2015[edit]

2015 AFC Asian Cup 11 January 2015	United Arab Emirates	4 – 1	Qatar	Canberra, Australia
	Khalil 37', 52' Mabkhout 56', 90'		Ibrahim 23'	Stadium: Canberra Stadium Attendance: 5,513 Referee: Kim Jong-hyeok (South Korea)

2015 AFC Asian Cup 15 January 2015	Bahrain	1 – 2	United Arab Emirates	Canberra, Australia
	Okwunwanne 26'		Mabkhout 1' Husain 74' (o.g.)	Stadium: Canberra Stadium Attendance: 7,925 Referee: Chris Beath (Australia)

2015 AFC Asian Cup 19 January 2015	Iran	1 – 0	United Arab Emirates	Brisbane, Australia
	Ghoochannejhad 90+1'			Stadium: Brisbane Stadium Attendance: 11,394 Referee: Ryuji Sato (Japan)

2015 AFC Asian Cup 23 January 2015	Japan	1 – 1 (aet)	United Arab Emirates	Sydney, Australia
				Stadium: Stadium Australia

2015 AFC Asian Cup 27 January 2015	Australia	2 – 0	United Arab Emirates	Newcastle, Australia
	Sainsbury 3' Davidson 17'			Stadium: Newcastle Stadium

2015 AFC Asian Cup 30 January 2015	Iraq	2 – 3	United Arab Emirates	Newcastle, Australia
				Stadium: Newcastle Stadium

Historical Kits[edit]


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

Records[edit]

As of 30 January 2015

Most Caps^[1]
#	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

Controversy[edit]

In October 2012 the Asian Football Confederation official website published an article about the UAE national team's bid 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.^[2]

References[edit]

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

External links[edit]

UAE Football Association official website (Arabic)

[1] Roberto Mamrud; Karel Stokkermans. "Players with 100+ Caps and 30+ International Goals". RSSSF. Retrieved 2012-04-05.

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

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