Football in the United Arab Emirates

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Football in United Arab Emirates
CountryUnited Arab Emirates
Governing bodyUnited Arab Emirates Football Association
National team(s)United Arab Emirates
Nickname(s)Al Abyad (The Whites)
Eyal Zayed (Sons of Zayed)
First played1972
Club competitions
International competitions

Association football is a practiced sport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). UAE has teams and players at both club and international level.[1]

Domestic

League

The

UAE Arabian Gulf League with Al Ain the only club with fourteen title wins.[3] UAE Division 1 currently acts as the UAE's 2nd tier competition with two clubs getting promoted and UAE Second Division League
was established in 2019 to act as the UAE's 3rd tier competition.

UAE has seen a number of overseas players and coaches imported. Amongst the names to compete have been

Internazionale Mohamed Kallon and 2006 FIFA World Player of the Year Fabio Cannavaro. In 2011, David Trezeguet and Diego Maradona joined as player and coach respectively.[citation needed
]

Cup

No fewer than six knockout cup competitions have been competed for in the UAE, although only three of these remain in existence. The Emir Cup, now called the

Federation Cup, an irregular competition, the UAE Vice Presidents Cup and the UAE FA Cup.[citation needed
]

International

The United Arab Emirates national football team, nicknamed Al Abyad, made their first appearance in 1972.

AFC Asian Cup

UAE national football team (2019)

Al Abyad first appeared at the AFC Asian Cup in 1980 when it was eliminated in the first round. Two more first round exits followed before the team finished fourth in 1992. In 1996, as hosts, UAE topped their group and then won games against Iraq and Kuwait to set up a final against Saudi Arabia. The match ended in a 0–0 draw but UAE lost on penalties.[5]

The team qualified for three of the four subsequent tournaments and did not advance beyond in the first round in any of those appearances.[citation needed]

In 2015 they finished second in their group and advanced to the Knockout stage for the first time since 1996. They knocked out the defending Asian Cup champions Japan in the quarter-finals before losing in the semi-finals to Australia. They then beat Iraq in the Third Place match.[citation needed]

The UAE has hosted the Asian Cup for the second time in 2019. The UAE started the group stages by finishing first right above Thailand and Bahrain, they would beat Kyrgyzstan at extra time and knock out the defending Asian Cup champions, Australia, in the quarter-finals twice in a row and would lose in the semi-finals to Qatar making it the second time in a row the Emiratis would lose in the semi-finals. Some threw shoes and bottles at the Qatari team and some booed the Qatari national anthem.[6]

World Cup

The UAE have qualified for the

West Germany and Yugoslavia as well as South Americans Colombia
. The team lost all three matches, 2–0 to Colombia, 5–1 to West Germany and 4–1 to Yugoslavia.

UAFA

UAE are also members of the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) and take part in their competitions. This avenue of competition had provided the UAE with two international trophies, first being the 18th Arabian Gulf Cup which they hosted and won and the second being the 21st Arabian Gulf Cup which was held in Bahrain.[7]

Other teams

Both the under-19s and the Under-17s have been champions, the former winning the AFC tournament in 2008 and the latter the Gulf tournament in 2009. A women's team also competes.[citation needed]

Club

The leading UAE club sides compete in the annual

Jeonbuk 2–3 on aggregate.[citation needed
]

The

Al Wasl in 2010, Baniyas in 2013 and Al Nasr in 2014.[citation needed
]

Overseas investment

In August 2008 the Abu Dhabi United Group purchased the English Premier League club Manchester City, installing Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan as owner and Khaldoon Al Mubarak as chairman. With the wealth of the ruling family of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi behind them the club became effectively the richest in the world.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Kuwait and UAE football teams' poor performance mirrors social ills | Raymond Barrett | Comment is free". theguardian.com. 2014-01-17. Retrieved 2014-01-31.
  2. ^ United Arab Emirates at FIFA site
  3. ^ a b "United Arab Emirates - List of Champions". Rsssf.com. 2013-09-19. Retrieved 2014-01-31.
  4. ^ "United Arab Emirates - List of Cup Winners". Rsssf.com. 2012-09-06. Retrieved 2014-01-31.
  5. ^ "Asian Nations Cup 1996". Rsssf.com. 2002-07-21. Retrieved 2014-01-31.
  6. ^ "uae fans throw shoes and bottles at qatar players". goal.com. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  7. ^ GulfCup (2013-01-19). "Event site". Gulfcup.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-26. Retrieved 2014-01-31.
  8. ^ "Manchester City become world's richest club with new owners". The Times. 2 September 2008. Retrieved 4 September 2010.[dead link‍]
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