Al Ain FC

Al Ain FC
نادي العين

Full name	Al Ain Football Club نادي العين لكرة القدم
Nickname(s)	Al Zaeem (The Boss)
Short name	AIN
Founded	August 1968; 53 years ago (1968-08) as Al Ain Sports Club
Ground	Hazza Bin Zayed
Capacity	25,053
Owner	Mohamed Bin Zayed
Manager	Serhiy Rebrov
League	UAE Pro League
2020–21	UAE Pro League, 6th of 14
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Active departments of Al Ain S.C.C.
Football (Men's) Football U-21 (Men's) Football (Women's) Volleyball Basketball Athletics Handball Jiu-Jitsu (Men's) Jiu-Jitsu (Women's) Swimming

Closed departments of Al Ain S.C.C.
Superleague Formula Tennis Table Tennis Bowling Karate Futsal

Al Ain Football Club (Arabic: نادي العين لكرة القدم; transliterated: Nady al-'Ayn) or Al Ain FC or simply Al Ain is a professional football club, based in the city of Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is one of many sport sections of the multi-sports club Al Ain Sports and Cultural Club (Arabic: نادي العين الرياضي الثقافي) Al Ain SCC for short.

The club was founded in 1968 by players from Al Ain, members of a Bahraini group of exchange students and the Sudanese community working in the United Arab Emirates.^[1] The team quickly gained popularity and recognition throughout the country, being the team with the most trophies (34 in total).^[2]

Al Ain is by far the most successful club in the UAE.^[3] Al Ain has won a record 13 UAE Pro League, 7 President's Cups, 5 Super Cups, 3 Federation Cups, two Abu Dhabi Championship Cups, one League Cup, Joint League Cup, Emirati-Moroccan Super Cup, Gulf Club Champions Cup and AFC Champions League. The club is the first and only UAE side so far to win the AFC Champions League. ^[4]

History[]

Foundation and early years[]

In the early 1960s, a group of young men learned the rules of the game by watching British soldiers playing football and formed their own team. The first pitch was very simple and small, taking the shape of a square sandy plot of land on the main street near the Clock Roundabout in Al Ain.^[5] In August 1968, the club was officially established, taking its name from the city they lived. The founders thought it was necessary to have a permanent headquarters for the club and rented a house on the current Khalifa Road for club meetings. The club's founders took responsibility for all the club's affairs, from planning the stadium to cleaning the club headquarters and washing the kit.^[5] Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan was approached for assistance and he provided the club with a permanent headquarters in the Al Jahili district and a Land Rover to serve the club and the team.^[6] Al Ain made a successful debut by beating a team made up of British soldiers and went on to play friendly matches against other Abu Dhabi clubs. In 1971, the team played their first match against international opposition when they were defeated 7–0 by the Egyptian club Ismaily in a friendly match for the war effort. In 1971, a group members of the club (Hadher Khalaf Al Muhairi, Saleem Al Khudrawi, Mohammed Khalaf Al Muhairi and Mahmoud Fadhlullah) broke away and founded Al Tadhamun Club.^[7] In 1971, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan provided the club with new headquarters with modern specifications: the Khalifa Stadium in Al Sarooj district.^[6] In 1974 Al Ain combined with the breakaway Al Tadhamun, to form the Al Ain Sports Club. The first board of directors of the club was formed after the merger under the chairmanship Mohammed Salem Al Dhaheri.^[7]

The founders were Mohammed Saleh Bin Badooh and Khalifa Nasser Al Suwaidi, Saeed Bin Ghannoum Al Hameli, Abdullah Hazzam, Salem Hassan Al Muhairi, Abdullah and Mane'a Ajlan, Abdullah Al Mansouri, Saeed Al Muwaisi, Nasser Dhaen, Abdullah Matar, Juma Al Najem, Ibrahim Al Mahmoud, Ibrahim Rasool and Ali Al Maloud and Ali Bu Majeed, who were the members of the Bahraini group of exchange students, and Maamoun Abdul Qader, Mahmoud Fadhlullah, Al Fateh Al Talib, Hussain Al Mirghani and Abbas Ali from the Sudanese community working in the UAE.^[1]

First titles and Entry to the Football League (1974–1997)[]

In February 1974, the club won its first title, the Abu Dhabi League. On 13 November 1974, Sheikh Khalifa was named honorary president of Al Ain, in recognition of his continuing support for the club.^[7] On 21 May 1975, Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan was elected Chairman of Board of Directors. In 1975, Al Ain won its second Abu Dhabi League^[8] In the same year on 21 March 1975, the club played its first UAE President Cup losing 4–5 on penalties in the Round of 16 against Al Shaab after drawing 1–1 in normal time. In 1975–76 season, the team participated for the first time in the UAE Football League, finishing runners-up behind Al Ahli. Al Ain won its first League title in the 1976–77 season, after drawing 1–1 with Al Sharjah in the last match. In the following season, they finished runners-up to Al Nasr; Mohieddine Habita was the top scorer with 20 goals. In the 1978–79 season, Al Ain secure third place with 27 points in the league and defeated by Al Sharjah in the President Cup final.

Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan became president of Al Ain on 19 January 1979. Al Ain won the League again in the 1980–81 season and lost the President Cup final to Al Shabab of Dubai. In 1983–84, the team won Joint League Cup and followed with its third League title, becoming the second with Al Ahli to have won the championship three times. The team had the strongest attack with 35 goals, and Ahmed Abdullah, with 20 goals was the joint-winner of the Arab League Golden Boot award for top scorer, alongside Al Wasl striker Fahad Khamees. This season was the first season in which foreign players were excluded from the UAE League, a restriction which was opposed by Al Ain. The team were eliminated in the qualifying stages of the 1986 Asian Club Championship. After winning the League title in 1983–84 season, Al Ain failed to win any trophies till 1989 when they won the Federation Cup. In the following year they reached the final of the President Cup, losing to Al Shabab.

The 1992–93 season began with several new signings: Saif Sultan (Ittihad Kalba), Salem Johar (Ajman), Majed Al Owais (Al Thaid), Saeed Juma (Emirates). Al Ain won their fourth League title with three games left to play, after a 5–0 win at Al Khaleej. In the following season, they finished second in the Football League and were runners-up the 1993 UAE Super Cup losing 2–1 against Al Shaab of Sharjah. They also reached the President Cup final but were beaten 1–0 by Al Shabab, failing for the fourth time to win the Cup. In 1994 and 1995, Al Ain lost two President Cup finals, finished second in the League, won the 1995 UAE Super Cup and lost out in the Asian Cup Winners' Cup second round to the Kuwaiti team Kazma. In the 1996–97 season, Al Ain were eliminated in the round of 16 of the President Cup by Hatta of Dubai and finished fourth in the Football League.

The Golden Age (1997–2003)[]

Before the start of the 1997–98 season, the honorary board was formed on 7 June 1997.^[9] After this initiative, Al Ain won the league championship. In the following season, they won the President Cup and finished runner-up in the league and secured the third place in their second appearance in Asian Club Championship, after the 1985. Ilie Balaci took charge in 1999. He led them to their sixth League championship, while in the Asian Cup Winners' Cup they were eliminated by Al Jaish on the away goals rule in the first round.

In 2003, Al Ain contested the AFC Champions League competition. In the Group stage they won all three matches, beating Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, Al Sadd of Qatar and Esteghlal of Iran. In the semi-final they were matched against the Chinese side Dalian Shide over two legs. In the first game, Al Ain won 4–2 at home, with Boubacar Sanogo scoring twice. In the return match in China Al Ain went 4–2 down with six minutes to play but won 7–6 on aggregate after a late goal by Farhad Majidi the Iranian legend. The final saw Al Ain face BEC Tero Sasana of Thailand. In the home leg, Al Ain prevailed 2–0 with goals from Salem Johar and Mohammad Omar. At the Rajamangala Stadium on 11 October, Al Ain were beaten 1–0 by Tero Sasana, but won 2–1 on aggregate to become the first Emirati club to win the Champions League.

New Era (2016–present)[]

In December 2018, Al Ain which celebrated the 50th anniversary participating in the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup, representing the host nation as the reigning champions of the UAE Pro-League. Al Ain beat Team Wellington from New Zealand in the first round and Espérance de Tunis of 2018 CAF Champions League champions to enter semifinal. On 18 December 2018, Al Ain defeated Copa Libertadores champions River Plate by penalties hosted in their home stadium Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium to enter the final for the first time in team history and became the first Emirati club to reach the decisive match. The final, on 22 December, Al Ain lost 4–1 to UEFA Champions League winners Real Madrid at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

Crest and colours[]

Crests[]

The Al Jahili Castle is considered as a symbol of the club, because it reflects the history of the city and also was the formal home of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan since 1946 when he was a ruler's representative. It officially became a crest for the club in 1980.^[11] They import a single star in their emblem because of their 2003 AFC Champions League victory.

Colours[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Al Ain FC kits.

The team began playing in green and white in 1968. After merging with Al Tadhamon in 1974, their red colour became Al Ain's from season 1974–75 till the start of season 1976–77. During the first team training camp in Morocco in 1977, a friendly tournament was held by Moroccan club Wydad Casablanca with the Nice, Sporting CP, and Anderlecht. Al Ain admired Anderlecht's purple colors, and an idea came to change Al Ain's colors to purple. The idea was presented to Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, who agreed to change the club colors officially to the purple with the beginning of the season 1977–78.^[12]

Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors[]

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
		chest		back		sleeve
1991–1992	Puma, Adidas	None
1992–1993	Lotto
1993–1994
1994–1995
1995–1996	Lotto, Uhlsport
1996–1997	Adidas
1997–1998	Jako, Kelme, Lotto, ABM, Adidas
1998–1999	Lotto	Bin Hamoodah		None		None
1999–2000	CALANNI	Abu Dhabi National Hotels
2000–2001	Jako	Mohamed Hareb Al Otaiba[13]				Avis	XeroxX
2001–2002	Adidas	Yas Perfumes[14]				None
2002–2003	Nike	Al Habtoor[15]
2003–2004		ADCB
2004–2005	Lotto	Sasan Trading[16]		ADCB
2005–2006		AlFahim[16]
2006–2009		Sorouh		Tamouh		Hydra	None
2009	Adidas	None
2009–2010	Erreà	Sorouh	First Gulf Bank[17]	Tamouh	None	Hydra	None
2010–2011	Macron				Abu Dhabi National Hotels[18]	Strata
2011	Kappa	None				None
2011–2013	Adidas[19]	Sorouh	First Gulf Bank	Abu Dhabi National Hotels	Strata
2013–2015	Nike[20]	First Gulf Bank		Abu Dhabi Airports[21][22]
2015–2016						BMW Abu Dhabi Motors[23]
2016–2018		First Abu Dhabi Bank				None
2018–2021				None
2021–						Expo 2020	None

Grounds[]

Al Ain first playground was set up on the main street near the Clock Roundabout in Al Ain. Took the shape of a square sandy plot of land.^[24] In 1971, Al Ain moved to new stadium in Al Sarouj district at a cost of £40,290. On 18 June 1978, the new stadium named after honorary president Khalifa Bin Zayed known as Sheikh Khalifa International Stadium. The stadium underwent a renovation in 2002 and increased its capacity to 12,000 people and as of the 2006-07 season all the Al Ain matches are played in this stadium. The stadium went through another significant upgrade and renovation, to prepare for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, hosted in the UAE. As of 14 January 2014, Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium been Al Ain home ground.^[8]

Players[]

As of UAE Pro-League: ^[25]

No	Position	Player	Nation
1	GK	Mohammed Abo Sandah	United Arab Emirates
2	DF	Saoud Al-Mahri U21	United Arab Emirates
3	DF	Salem Abdullah	United Arab Emirates
4	DF	Mohammed Ali Shaker	United Arab Emirates
5	DF	Danilo Arboleda	Colombia
6	MF	Yahia Nader	United Arab Emirates
7	FW	Caio Canedo	United Arab Emirates
8	FW	Ali Eid	United Arab Emirates
9	FW	Kodjo Laba	Togo
10	MF	Cristian Guanca (on loan to Al-Shabab)	Argentina
11	DF	Bandar Al-Ahbabi	United Arab Emirates
12	GK	Sultan Al-Mantheri	United Arab Emirates
13	MF	Ahmed Barman	United Arab Emirates
14	MF	Rayan Yaslam	United Arab Emirates
15	DF	Erik U21	Brazil
17	GK	Khalid Eisa	United Arab Emirates
18	MF	Khalid Al-Balochi	United Arab Emirates
21	MF	Soufiane Rahimi	Morocco
22	MF	Saeed Ahmed	United Arab Emirates
23	DF	Mohamed Ahmed	United Arab Emirates
24	MF	Andrija Radovanovic U21	Serbia
25	MF	Ali Al-Balochi U21	United Arab Emirates
27	MF	Sultan Al-Shamsi	United Arab Emirates
30	MF	Mohammed Khalfan	United Arab Emirates
31	GK	Suhail Al-Shamsi	United Arab Emirates
33	DF	Kouame Autonne	Ivory Coast
34	DF	Rafael Pereira	Brazil
42	MF	Jonathan Santos U21	Brazil
44	DF	Saeed Juma	United Arab Emirates
70	MF	Mohammed Abbas U21	United Arab Emirates
72	FW	Mohamed Awadalla U21	Sudan
74	DF	Adham Khalid U21	Egypt
88	MF	U21	United Arab Emirates
89	MF	Ahmed Al-Qatesh U21	United Arab Emirates
90	FW	Eisa Khalfan U21	United Arab Emirates
99	FW	Jamal Maroof	United Arab Emirates

Unregistered players[]

No	Position	Player	Nation
20	DF	Yassine Meriah	Tunisia
26	MF	Omar Yaisien	Egypt
28	MF	Idriss Mzaouiyani	France
—	MF	Bauyrzhan Islamkhan	Kazakhstan

Out on loan[]

No	Position	Player	Nation
19	DF	Mohanad Salem (on loan to Ittihad Kalba)	United Arab Emirates
94	MF	Mohammed Jamal (on loan to Al Jazira)	United Arab Emirates
—	MF	Falah Waleed (on loan to Khor Fakkan)	United Arab Emirates

Personnel[]

Current technical staff[]

Position	Name
Head coach	Serhiy Rebrov
Assistant coach	Vicente Gómez Ahmed Abdullah
Assistant coach and analyst	Alberto Bosch
Fitness coach	Jesus
Goalkeeping coach	Radu Lefter Dan Zdrîncă
U-21 team head coach	Ghazi Fahad
First and U21 team supervisor	Abdullah Al Shamsi[26]

Management[]

Board of directors[]

Office	Name
President	Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Vice President	Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Chairman of Board of Directors	Matar Al Darmaki
Vice Chairman of Board of Directors	Khaled Al Dhaheri
Board of Directors Member	Matar Al Dhaheri
Board of Directors Member	Salem Al Jneibi
Board of Directors Member	Majid Al Owais

Managerial history[]

^* Served as caretaker coach.

No.	Nationality	Head coach	From	Until	Honours
1		Nasser Dhaen (No such name in FIFA)*	1968	1971[27][28][29]
2		Abdel Aziz Hammami	1971[28]	1973
3		Ahmed Hajeer	1973	1976
4		Ahmed Dhib	1976	1976
5		Ahmed Alyan	1976	1979	1 Championship
6		Abdelmajid Chetali	1979	1980
7		Ahmed Nagah	1980	1982	1 Championship
8		Nelsinho Rosa	1982	1984	1 Championship
9		Miljan Miljanić	1984	1986
10		Jair Picerni	1986	1986
11		João Francisco	1986	1988
12		Zé Mario	1988	1990	1 Federation Cup
13		Mahieddine Khalef	1990	1992
14		Yusri Abdul Ghani	1992	1992
15		Amarildo	1992	1995	1 Championship
16		Shaker Abdel-Fattah	1995	1995	1 Supercup
17		Ángel Marcos	1995	1996
18		Lori Sandri	1996	1996
19		Cabralzinho	1997	1997
20		Shaker Abdel-Fattah	1997	1998	1 Championship
21		Nelo Vingada	1998	1999	1 President's Cup
22		Ilie Balaci	1999	2000	1 Championship
23		Oscar Fulloné	2000	2000
24		Mrad Mahjoub	2000	2001	1 Gulf Club Champions Cup
25		Anghel Iordănescu	2001	2002	1 President's Cup
26		Ahmed Abdullah*	2002	2002
27		Džemal Hadžiabdić	Jan 2002	2002	1 Championship
28		Bruno Metsu	Aug 2002	May 2004	2 Championships, 1 Champions League, 1 Supercup
29		Alain Perrin	July 2004	21 Oct 2004
30		Mohammad El Mansi*	23 Oct 2004	Jan 2005	1 Federation Cup

No.	Nationality	Head coach	From	Until	Honours
31		Milan Máčala	Jan 2005	Jan 2006	1 President's Cup
32		Mohammad El Mansi*	2006	2006	1 President's Cup, 1 Federation Cup
33		Anghel Iordănescu	June 2006	Dec 2006
34		Tiny Ruys*	2006	2007
35		Walter Zenga	7 January 2007	30 June 2007
36		Tite	July 2007	Dec 2007
37		Winfried Schäfer	2007	Dec 2009	1 Cup, 1 President's Cup, 1 Supercup
38		Rasheed Mahmoud*	Dec 2009	Dec 2009
39		Toninho Cerezo	Dec 2009	April 2010
40		Abdul Hameed Al Mistaki*	April 2010	Dec 2010
41		Ahmed Abdullah*	2010	2010
42		Alexandre Gallo	21 Dec 2010	6 June 2011
43		Cosmin Olăroiu	6 June 2011	6 July 2013	2 Championships, 1 Supercup
44		Jorge Fossati	29 July 2013	13 Sept 2013
45		Ahmed Abdullah*	13 Sept 2013	27 Sept 2013
46		Quique Sánchez Flores	27 Sept 2013	8 March 2014
47		Zlatko Dalić	8 March 2014	23 January 2017	1 Championship, 1 President's Cup, 1 Supercup
–		Joško Španjić*	23 January 2017	1 February 2017
49		Zoran Mamić	1 February 2017	30 January 2019	1 Championship, 1 President's Cup
–		Željko Sopić*	30 January 2019	18 February 2019
51		Juan Carlos Garrido	18 February 2019	26 May 2019
52		Ivan Leko	1 June 2019	21 December 2019
–		Ghazi Fahad*	21 December 2019	5 January 2020
54		Pedro Emanuel	5 January 2020	11 May 2021
55		Serhiy Rebrov	6 June 2021

Honours[]

34 official Championships.^[30]

• Emirati-Moroccan Super Cup not official by UAE FA.^[31]

Type		Competition	Titles	Seasons
Domestic	National	Pro League	13	1976–77, 1980–81, 1983–84, 1992–93, 1997–98, 1999–00, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2017–18
		President's Cup[32]	7	1998–99, 2000–01, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2013–14, 2017–18
		Super Cup	5S	1995, 2003, 2009, 2012, 2015
		League Cup	1	2008–09
		Federation Cup	3S	1988–89, 2004–05, 2005–06
		Joint League Cup[33]	1S	1982–83
	State	Abu Dhabi Championship[7]	2	1974, 1975
Regional		GCC Champions League	1	2001
Continental		AFC Champions League	1	2003
Other		Emirati-Moroccan Super Cup[34]	1	2015[35]

•   record
• ^S shared record

Record[]

Club captains[]

Dates	Name	Notes
1970-1977	Rabea Ibrahim
2001-2005	Salem Joher
2011-2016	Helal Saeed
2016-2018	Omar Abdulrahman
2018-2021	Ismail Ahmed
2021-present	Bandar Al-Ahbabi

Top goalscorers[]

As of 15 January 2022.
Bold indicates player is still active at club level.

Rank	Player	Years	Goals
1	Ahmed Abdullah	1978–1995	180
2	Asamoah Gyan	2011–2015	128
3	Mohieddine Habita	1976–1983	71
4	Majid Al Owais	1992	70
5	Omar Abdulrahman	2008–2018	62
6	Matar Al Sahbani	1983	60
	Salem Johar	1992–2005	60
8	Kodjo Laba	2019–present	58
9	Saif Sultan	1992–2005	55
10	Marcus Berg	2017–2019	51

Note: this includes goals scored in all competitions.^[36]

Asian[]

Participations[]

• Q : Qualified, GS : Group Stage, R16 : Round of 16, QF : Quarterfinals, SF : Semifinals, RU : Runners-Up, W : Winners

Participations
Qualified	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2010	2011	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
15 Times	W	QF	RU	QF	GS	GS	GS	GS	SF	R16	RU	QF	R16	GS	GS

AFC Club Rankings[]

As of 2020

This is the current AFC coefficient, the rankings are calculated by AFC.^[37]

Rank	Points
16	59.307

FootballDatabase Rankings[]

As of 5 December 2021^[38]

Continental[]

Rank	Points
17	1506

World[]

Rank	Points
273	1506

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Al Ain FC.

• Official Al-Ain FC website
• Al Ain FC on Arabian Gulf League official website
• Al Ain FC on AFC official website