United Arab Emirates national football team
The United Arab Emirates national football team represents the United Arab Emirates in men's international association football and serves under the auspices of the country's Football Association.
Under a vast amount of time it was instructed by foreign managers as for instance, the English Don Revie.
United Arab Emirates's home ground varies. Most 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 United Arab Emirates 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 Arabian Gulf Cup on two occasions; in 2007 when they won the title for the first time in their history, and the second time was in 2013. They finished third in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup and hosted 2019 edition which they were eliminated in the semi-finals.
History
The first match of the national football team was played on 17 March 1972, four months after the union of the United Arab Emirates, against Qatar at Riyadh's Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium and won 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 to nothing.After participating in four Gulf Cup tournaments since 1972, the United Arab Emirates hosted the 1982 edition. They again finished third, as did in the two previous tournaments.
First Asian Cup appearances
In 1980, the United Arab Emirates first-time qualified 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 in fifth place in the group and ninth 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
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 the qualification for the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. However, Zagallo resigned before the tournament and Parreira returned as head coach to lead the United Arab Emirates 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. The tournament was later put into a 2016 documentary titled 'Lights of Rome'. After the tournament, Parreira was sacked. Two years later, at the 1992 AFC Asian Cup, the United Arab Emirates finished in fourth place, their best finish up to that date.
1996 AFC Asian Cup
The United Arab Emirates hosted the 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 with South Korea then defeated Kuwait and Indonesia to advance as group winners. 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. After a goalless draw, they lost to Saudi Arabia 2–4 in a penalty shoot-out and finished the tournament as runner-up, which is still their best in the AFC Asian Cup.The United Arab Emirates also appeared in the 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.
captained UAE in the 1990 FIFA World Cup
2000–2011 (dark years)
The United Arab Emirates missed the qualification for the 2000 AFC Asian Cup in Lebanon. They also finished in last place at the 2002 Gulf Cup in Saudi Arabia.They were eliminated in the next three AFC Asian Cup tournaments at the group stage. In 2004 and 2007 editions, the UAE were all eliminated by surprise to the hand to debutants Jordan and Vietnam. Their worst performance was in 2011 when they finished the tournament goalless. At this time, many notable coaches managed the Emirates, including Carlos Queiroz, Roy Hodgson and Dick Advocaat. In 2006, the UAE appointed Senegal's 2002 FIFA World Cup head coach, Bruno Metsu as their new manager. He led the Emirates to the 2007 Gulf Cup title, the country's first major achievement.
2012–2015 (return to success)
After hiring many European coaches, in 2012, United Arab Emirates appointed the Olympic team coach Mahdi Ali as the new manager of the national team. Ali began creating a young squad for the United Arab Emirates, inviting many players that he had worked with at youth level. He led the Emirates to their second Gulf Cup title in 2013.United Arab Emirates's form at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup was a surprise to some. Drawn in Group C, they defeated Qatar 4–1 and Bahrain 2–1 and lost to Iran only by a controversial goal that appeared to be offside. As group runner-up, they faced the defending champions Japan in the quarter-final and earned a victory on penalties to advance to the last four. They lost 2–0 to the host Australia in the semi-finals. In the third place play-off, they beat Iraq 3–2.
2018 FIFA World Cup Qualification
The United Arab Emirates qualified for the Second Round of the AFC qualification, where they finished second in Group A behind Saudi Arabia and qualified for the Third Round. In this round, they finished fourth in Group B, thus failing to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Despite this, one of United Arab Emirates players Ahmed Khalil manage to be the top scorer in the qualification along with two other players. Around this time Mahdi Ali resigned from his position.2019 AFC Asian Cup
In 2015, it was announced that the Emirates will host the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, this marks the 2nd time they hosts an AFC Asian Cup. With its desire to win the trophy for the first time, the team had a new coach, the former Asian Cup winning manager Alberto Zaccheroni.The opening 1–1 draw to neighbor Bahrain was seen as disappointing. However, they salvaged three points against India before drawing Thailand to secure top spot and progress to the round of sixteen. UAE had a tight-fought match against Kyrgyzstan, and had been equalized twice after 90', but a penalty from Ali Mabkhout ensured his team to enter the quarter-finals against then-defending champions Australia. In the quarter-finals, UAE scored its first ever goal against Australia to gain its first ever win against this opponent and eliminated them in process. The semi-finals was seen as a rivalry between the host and Qatar. Some Emirati supporters booed Qatari anthem, and threw footwear in the pitch after Qatar scored their second goal. UAE lost 0–4 marking its first defeat to Qatar since 2001 and ending the chance of seeking entry to the final.
2022 FIFA World Cup Qualification
The United Arab Emirates joined the second round of 2022 World Cup qualifiers and was placed with all-out Southeast Asian opponents: Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. The team had already appointed the Dutch guider Bert van Marwijk. Thing didn't come as planned and Bert was sacked due to his poor start suffering two away losses to Thailand and Vietnam in the qualifiers along his early group stage exist in the 24th Arabian Gulf Cup. By the time of his sacking, UAE was 4th in the group but still has the chance to advance.Previous Al Nasr manager Ivan Jovanović was hired so as to change fortune. Furthermore, the Emirates decided to naturalize Argentine Sebastián Tagliabúe, Brazilian Caio Canedo Corrêa and Fábio Virginio de Lima, the three South American players, having never done so since the foundation of the national team.
Rivalries
UAE's common rivals are its neighbours Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq and Iran. It also has a rivalry with Uzbekistan.Qatar
The rivalry with Qatar is a competitive one in the Arabian Gulf Cup meeting in multiple occasions, due to Qatar diplomatic crisis, increasing tensions had been witnessed, with the captain of UAE under-19 youth team refused to shake hands with Qatar's youth captain in 2018 AFC U-19 Championship held in Indonesia; in this tournament, the UAE beat Qatar 2–1 but still crashed out from the group stage while Qatar would recover to qualify for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup. As of 2020, Qatar and UAE have played 31 official matches, most of which was held competitively in the Arabian Gulf Cup, it started off with the United Arab Emirates beating Qatar 1–0. They only played 2 friendly games and the last friendly was held in 2011 which ended with an Emirati victory. In the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, hosted by the UAE, Qatar overran the UAE for the first time since 2001 with the result 4–0, with heavy tensions and violence occurred between two and Emirati supporters cheering anti-Qatari chants. UAE was fined $150,000 US dollars for the incident and had to play their first 2022 and 2023 qualification game in closed doors. However, on 21 September, AFC has lifted the ban just a few weeks before the match has begun.Saudi Arabia
Another major rival the UAE took on Arabian Gulf Cup many times, the two teams have met in the AFC Asian Cup twice, first in the semi finals of the 1992 edition which ended in a Saudi victory and second in the final of the 1996 edition in which UAE hosted, the game ended in a goalless draw which meant the game had to be decided in penalties, the game ended with Saudi Arabia taking home their 3rd title with the penalty scoreline being 4–2, this remains the only time the Emirates qualified for the final meanwhile this would also be the last time the Saudis would win an Asian Cup as they would lose the next two finals they qualified for in 2000 and 2007. When the two countries meet in the World Cup or Asian Cup qualifiers, it's generally been nicknamed "Clash of Titans" as the two countries, alongside Kuwait and Qatar, are seen as the titans of the Gulf states.Nicknames
The United Arab Emirates is known by supporters and the media as Al-Abyad, meaning The Whites which reference to their 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.
Home stadium
As of 2019, the UAE has played in 7 home stadiums.Historical kits
Kit suppliers
Coaching staff
Last Update: June 2020Coaching Staff
Medical Staff
Players
Current squad
- The following players were called up for 24th Arabian Gulf Cup
- Match date:''' 26 November 2019 — 2 December 2019
Recent call-ups
List of UAE squads
;FIFA World Cup;FIFA Confederations Cup
;AFC Asian Cup
- 1980 Asian Cup squad
- 1984 Asian Cup squad
- 1988 Asian Cup squad
- 1992 Asian Cup squad
- 1996 Asian Cup squad
- 2004 Asian Cup squad
- 2007 Asian Cup squad
- 2011 Asian Cup squad
- 2015 Asian Cup squad
- 2019 Asian Cup squad
Results and fixtures
2019
2020
Competitive records
FIFA World Cup record
The United Arab Emirates only appearance at the World Cup was in 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy where they would lose all three of their matches to Yugoslavia, Colombia and West Germany. This lone appearance was put into a 2016 documentary titled 'Lights of Rome'.AFC Asian Cup record
FIFA Confederations Cup record
Asian Games record
Gulf Cup record
Pan Arab Games record
Friendly tournaments
Head to head against other countries
As of 2 December 2019| Opponent | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
| 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | −2 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | |
| 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | −4 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | |
| 31 | 13 | 6 | 12 | 54 | 45 | +9 | |
| 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 1 | +20 | |
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | −8 | |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 | +16 | |
| 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 14 | −10 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | −2 | |
| 11 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 17 | −10 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | −2 | |
| 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | −5 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +4 | |
| 9 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 10 | −4 | |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | +1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +1 | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 14 | −11 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | |
| 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | |
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | +8 | |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | −5 | |
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | −1 | |
| 13 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 26 | 7 | +19 | |
| 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 8 | +5 | |
| 16 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 4 | 24 | −20 | |
| 33 | 8 | 13 | 12 | 32 | 49 | −17 | |
| 20 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 18 | 22 | −4 | |
| 17 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 25 | 14 | +11 | |
| 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 5 | +4 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
| 41 | 16 | 8 | 17 | 49 | 74 | −25 | |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | +1 | |
| 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | +9 | |
| 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 23 | 13 | +10 | |
| 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +3 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| 11 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 28 | 7 | +21 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | +1 | |
| 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 3 | +1 | |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | +11 | |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +4 | |
| 11 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 11 | −3 | |
| 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | −3 | |
| 33 | 15 | 12 | 6 | 45 | 24 | +21 | |
| 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 4 | +13 | |
| 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 2 | +4 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +4 | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 10 | −8 | |
| 31 | 10 | 8 | 13 | 35 | 40 | −5 | |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | |
| 36 | 8 | 8 | 20 | 27 | 51 | −24 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | −3 | |
| 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 8 | −1 | |
| 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 5 | +11 | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | −3 | |
| 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +1 | |
| 21 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 16 | 41 | −25 | |
| 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 3 | +32 | |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | |
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | |
| 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | −1 | |
| 21 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 32 | 16 | +16 | |
| 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 11 | +5 | |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | +9 | |
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | −2 | |
| 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | −2 | |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 9 | −7 | |
| 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 4 | +5 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | −2 | |
| 16 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 24 | 17 | +7 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | −2 | |
| 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 4 | +9 | |
| 13 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 29 | 13 | +16 | |
| Total | 578 | 226 | 150 | 199 | 796 | 717 | +79 |
Players record
| # | Player | Caps | Goals | Career |
| 1 | Adnan Al Talyani | 161 | 52 | 1983–1997 |
| 2 | Ismail Matar | 133 | 36 | 2003–2019 |
| 3 | Subait Khater | 120 | 12 | 1999–2011 |
| 4 | Abdulrahim Jumaa | 116 | 13 | 1998–2009 |
| 5 | Ismail Al Hammadi | 115 | 13 | 2007– |
| 6 | Zuhair Bakheet | 112 | 27 | 1988–2002 |
| 6 | Abdulsalam Jumaa | 112 | 7 | 1997–2010 |
| 8 | Muhsin Musabah | 106 | 0 | 1988–1999 |
| 9 | Ahmed Khalil | 105 | 48 | 2008– |
| 10 | Mohammed Omar | 102 | 28 | 1996–2009 |
| # | Player | Goals | Caps | Career |
| 1 | Ali Mabkhout | 60 | 83 | 2009– |
| 2 | Adnan Al Talyani | 52 | 161 | 1983–1997 |
| 3 | Ahmed Khalil | 48 | 105 | 2008– |
| 4 | Ismail Matar | 36 | 133 | 2003–2019 |
| 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 |
| 8 | Ismail Al Hammadi | 13 | 115 | 2007– |
| 10 | Omar Abdulrahman | 11 | 75 | 2011– |
Honours
Major competitions- AFC Asian Cup
- Arabian Gulf Cup
- Kirin Cup
- OSN Cup
- LG Cup
- Oman Cup