Al Wahda FC

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Al Wahda

Full name	Al Wahda Football Club
Founded	1974; 47 years ago (1974)
Ground	Al Nahyan Stadium
Capacity	15,000[1]
Owner	Diab Bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Manager	Henk ten Cate[2]
League	UAE Pro League
2020–21	UAE Pro League, 7th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Al Wahda Football Club (Arabic: نادي الوحدة لكرة القدم‎) is an Emirati professional football club based in Abu Dhabi, that competes in the UAE Pro League.^[3] The club was founded in 1974 and plays its home games at the Al-Nahyan Stadium. The club's colours are maroon, grey and white.

History[]

Foundation[]

The first team created in Abu Dhabi was Al-Ahli in 1966, followed respectively by Al-Ittihad in 1968, Al-Falah and Al-Wahda in 1969. In 1974, a decision was made by the Minister of youth and sport to create Abu Dhabi SC by merging Al-Ittihad and Al-Wahda on 13 March 1974, and to create Al-Emirates SC by merging Al-Ahli and Al-Falah on 3 June 1974. In 1984, Abu Dhabi SC and Al-Emirates SC merged to create Al-Wahda FC.

Modern era[]

In 1999, Al Wahda won their maiden UAE League title with 8 points ahead of their rivals Al Ain. In 2018, Al Wahda changed its official logo as part of a new club redesign.

Honours[]

Club crest (1984–2018)

Leagues[]

UAE Pro-League: 4

• Champions: 1998–99, 2000–01, 2004–05, 2009–10

UAE Division One: 2

• Champions: 1976–77, 1984–85

Cups[]

President's Cup: 2

• Champions: 1999–2000, 2016–17

Super Cup: 4

• Champions: 2002, 2011, 2017, 2018^[4]

Federation Cup: 3

• Champions: 1986, 1995, 2001

UAE League Cup: 2

• Champions: 2015–16, 2017–18

Performance in AFC competitions[]

Al Wahda players (right) during an AFC Champions League match against FC Goa at the Fatorda Stadium in 2021

Al Wahda has been qualifying for Asian competitions regularly since the 1998–99 Asian Cup Winners' Cup, they've been qualifying for the AFC Champions League regularly by winning the President's Cup or consistently finishing near the top in the league.

showAl Wahda's season-by-season record in international competitions
1 Group stage. Highest-ranked eliminated team in case of qualification, lowest-ranked qualified team in case of elimination.
Asian Club Championship / AFC Champions League
Season	Preliminary stages										Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarter-finals	Semi-finals	Final
2000												Al-Sadd
2002												Al-Zawraa	Nasaf Qarshi1
2004												Al-Sadd1	Pakhtakor
2006												Al-Karamah1
2007												Al-Zawraa1	Al-Hilal	Sepahan
2008												Al-Karamah1
2010									Al-Karamah	Churchill Brothers	Esteghlal1
2011											Bunyodkor1
2015										Al-Sadd
2017										Al-Wehdat	Persepolis1
2018											Zob Ahan1
2019											Lokomotiv Tashkent1	Al-Nassr
2021										Al-Zawraa	FC Goa1	Sharjah	Al-Nassr
Asian Cup Winners' Cup
Season	Preliminary stages										Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarter-finals	Semi-finals	Final
1999												Kazma
2001												Esteghlal

• AFC Champions League: 12 appearances

2004: Quarter-finals

2006: Group stage

2007: Semi-finals

2008: Group stage

2010: Group stage

2011: Group stage

2015: Play-offs

2017: Group stage

2018: Group stage

2019: Round of 16

2020: Withdrew

2021: Qualified

• Asian Club Championship: 2 appearances

1999–2000: First round

2001–02: Group stage (Top 8)

• Asian Cup Winners Cup: 2 appearances

1998–99: First round

2000–01: First round

Home stadium[]

An outer view of the Al Nahyan Stadium

The Al-Nahyan Stadium is the home of Al Wahda.^[5] It has 15,000 seats and located only three kilometres from the downtown.

Current squad[]

First team squad[]

No Position Player Nationality 1 GK Mohammed Al-Shamsi  United Arab Emirates 2 DF Mohammed Al-Menhali  United Arab Emirates 3 DF Lucas Pimenta  Brazil 6 DF Mahmoud Khamees (on loan to Al-Nasr)  United Arab Emirates 7 MF Khalil Ibrahim  United Arab Emirates 8 MF Tahnoon Al-Zaabi  United Arab Emirates 9 FW João Pedro  Brazil 10 MF Ismail Matar (Captain)  United Arab Emirates 13 MF Khamis Esmaeel  United Arab Emirates 15 MF Mansoor Al-Harbi  United Arab Emirates 21 DF Abdullah Al Karbi  United Arab Emirates 23 DF Rashed Muhayer  United Arab Emirates 29 MF Lee Myung-joo  South Korea 32 MF José Ángel  Spain 36 DF Alaeddine Zouhir  Tunisia 37 DF Ahmed Rashed  United Arab Emirates 44 DF Fares Jumaa  United Arab Emirates 50 GK Rashed Ali  United Arab Emirates 66 GK Hazaa Ammar  United Arab Emirates 70 FW Omar Kharbin  Syria 99 FW  Brazil Reserve/U21[] No Position Player Nationality 4 DF Majed Abdulla  United Arab Emirates 12 MF Abdulla Hamad  United Arab Emirates 14 MF Ismail Al-Zaabi  United Arab Emirates 18 MF Hamdan Adel  United Arab Emirates 19 DF Rúben Canedo  Portugal 20 FW Mansoor Saeed  United Arab Emirates 39 DF  United Arab Emirates 68 MF Mohammed Ali  United Arab Emirates 69 GK Sultan Belal  United Arab Emirates 76 MF  United Arab Emirates 77 FW  United Arab Emirates 82 GK Saeed Al-Ameri  United Arab Emirates Unregistered players[] No Position Player Nationality 38 DF  United Arab Emirates 56 MF Abdullah Ismaeel  United Arab Emirates — DF  United Arab Emirates Out on loan[] No Position Player Nationality 24 DF Rashed Abdullah (on loan to Al Dhafra)  United Arab Emirates 35 DF (on loan to Al Dhafra)  United Arab Emirates — DF Abdalla Al Refaey (on loan to Khor Fakkan)  Egypt — DF Gian (on loan to Al Urooba)  Brazil Past managers[] Helmy Toulan (1979–84) Heshmat Mohajerani (1984–86) Slobodan Halilović (1991–92) Mahmoud El-Gohary (1995–96) Jo Bonfrere (1998–99) Ruud Krol (1999) Dimitri Davidovic (1999–00) Rinus Israël (2000–01) Jo Bonfrere (2001–02) Cemşir Muratoğlu (2002–03) Rolf Fringer (March 14, 2003 – June 30, 2003) Rolland Courbis (July 1, 2003 – Nov 30, 2003) Rinus Israël (Dec 1, 2003 – June 30, 2004) (2004–0?) Reiner Hollmann (July 1, 2005 – April 3, 2006) Richard Tardy (200?–Aug 4, 2006) Horst Köppel (Aug 5, 2006 – Oct 11, 2006)[6] Jo Bonfrere (Dec 13, 2007 – Dec 17, 2008) Josef Hickersberger (Dec 10, 2008 – June 1, 2010) László Bölöni (May 29, 2010 – Sept 2, 2010)[7] Tite (Aug 31, 2010 – Oct 19, 2010) Josef Hickersberger (Oct 22, 2010 – June 30, 2012) Branko Ivanković (May 20, 2012 – April 28, 2013) Josef Hickersberger (April 28, 2013 – July 15, 2013) Karel Jarolím (July 15, 2013 – Nov 9, 2013) José Peseiro (Nov 11, 2013 – Jan 11, 2015) Sami Al-Jaber (Jan 11, 2015 – May 19, 2015) Javier Aguirre (June 18, 2015 – May 20, 2017)[8] Laurențiu Reghecampf (July 3, 2017 – November 25, 2018) Henk ten Cate (December 7, 2018 – May 26, 2019) Maurice Steijn (June 9, 2019 – October 17, 2019) Manuel Jiménez (October 17, 2019 – July 18, 2020)[9] Mark Wotte (July 18, 2020 – September 8, 2020) Vuk Rasovic (September 8, 2020 – March 12, 2021)[10] Henk ten Cate (March 13, 2021 – Present) Pro-League Record[] Season Div. Tms. Pos. President's Cup League Cup 2008–09 PL 12 4th Semi-Finals Runner-ups 2009–10 PL 12 1st Semi-Finals Semi-Finals 2010–11 PL 12 5th Runner-ups Semi-Finals 2011–12 PL 12 6th Semi-Finals First Round 2012–13 PL 14 7th Semi-Finals Semi-Finals 2013–14 PL 14 2nd Quarter-Finals First Round 2014–15 PL 14 4th Round of 16 First Round 2015–16 PL 14 3rd Round of 16 Champions 2016–17 PL 14 5th Champions First Round 2017–18 PL 12 2nd Semi-Finals Champions 2018–19 PL 14 3rd Round of 16 Runner-ups 2019–20a PL 14 5th Round of 16 Quarter-Finals 2020–21 PL 14 7th Round of 16 First Round Notes^ 2019–20 UAE football season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates. Key Pos. = Position Tms. = Number of teams PL = Pro-League References[] ^ "نبذة عن منشآت نادي الوحدة الرياضي". Archived from the original on 2015-03-17. Retrieved 2015-03-10. ^ "HENK TEN CATE KEERT ALS TRAINER TERUG BIJ AL WAHDA" (in Dutch). elfvoetbal. Retrieved 17 April 2021. ^ Al Wahda FC (UAE): club profile, squad, fixtures and achieves Soccerway.com. Retrieved 16 April 2021 ^ "Al Ain FC 3 : 3 , 222: 4 PAl Wahda FC". globalsportsarchive.com. Global Sports Archive. 25 August 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2021. ^ "Al Wahda - Clubs - UAE Pro League Committee". Al Wahda Club. Retrieved 17 April 2021. ^ "Köppel wechselt in die VAE". kicker (in German). 5 August 2006. Retrieved 9 February 2013. ^ Bölöni appointed as head coach of Al-Wahda Archived 6 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine ^ Cerezo, Hugo (18 June 2015). "Javier Aguirre ficha por el Al Wahda". Marca (in Spanish). ^ Jose, James (17 October 2019). "Al Jazira, Al Wahda appoint new managers". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 17 April 2021. ^ "Al Wahda set to name Vuk Rasovic as new coach ahead of Asian Champions League resumption". thenational. Retrieved 17 April 2021. External links[] Official website (in Arabic)