Football in UAE: UAE national football team

Football is a global and most popular sport in the world. So, it is the sport with the highest number of fans in the world. Over four billion people enjoy football. In UAE, football is the number one sport. Moreover, many people enjoy playing football either as a hobby or a profession in UAE. Firstly, in this article, we will discuss the UAE national football team. Further, you can read more interesting facts about football.

united arab emirates UAE national football team in UAE

Football in UAE: interesting facts

If you are an established football fan or just want to check out some facts about football, the UAE national football team will excite you a lot. The team has exciting talents that there are many things any football fan will discover about this incredible team.

United Arab Emirates National football team history

Before we dive into more details, lets us have a glimpse of the history of the UAE. The United Arab Emirates national football team represents the United Arab Emirates. It is a member of the (AFC) Asian Football Confederation, where it also competes. the United Arab Confederation has forty-seven member countries and is also considered as one of FIFA’s six continental confederations. The UAE football national team has made an appearance in the world cup just once in the year 1990, hosted in Italy. Unfortunately, but the team lost all three games on the group stage and exited the competition.

The team achieved the fourth position in the Asian Cup in the year 1992. It hosted the Asian Cup in the year 1996 and finished as runners-up. The UAE national football team has won the Arabian Gulf cup twice. They won it in the year 2007 and 2013 respectively. In 2015 the team achieved the third position in the AFC Asian Cup. The team was the host of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, where they got knocked out in the semis.

10 players

UAE football National team – first match

The UAE national football team played its first match on 17th March 1972. They played against their arch-rivals Qatar at the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium. They won this game by a goal to nil. Ahmed Chowbi scored the goal. So, the AFC ranks the UAE national team sixth with around 1360 points.

In 2019, under the guidance of Alberto Zaccheroni, the team hosted the Asian Cup. They proceeded to the semi-finals but lost to Qatar in a heavy four-nil defeat. That is the first defeat they suffered against Qatar since the year 2001.

UAE football club – future

The UAE national football team joined the second round of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, which was placed against South Asian teams. Having appointed Berth Van Marwijk, the Netherlands international, as their head coach, the expectations were high. However, following consecutive losses to Vietnam and Thailand in the qualifiers, as well as a surprise exit in the group stages on the 24th Arabian Gulf cup, Berth was sacked. In response to that, the UAE national football team decided to neutralize three South American players in the name of Fabio Virginio de Lima, Caio Canedo, both Brazilians and Sebastian Tagliabue from Argentina. That was the first time they ever did something like that.

After the match

The UAE national football team underwent a difficult period in coaching instabilities. They hired three different coaches who all failed before Berth resumed his coaching role once again. After the covid-19 pandemic hit the world, the AFC gave an ultimatum stating that the remaining games in the qualifiers were all to be played in one country. That turned out to be a good thing for The UAE national football team as they played host to these qualifier games. The UAE national football team made use of the home ground advantage and were able to turn their fortunes around. They had an amazing run of four wins and qualified for the third round. They will be facing South Korea and their arch-rivals Iran in the third round.

Here are some exciting things about The UAE national football team

The coach “Bert van Marwijk”

Since March 2019, the UAE national football team is under the guidance of Bert. He has achieved a lot in his career. In addition, he has managed Holland, Saudi Arabia, and Austria and has good records. In Holland, he guided them to the finals of the 2010 world cup. He also managed to take Saudi Arabia to the 2018 world cup, although they made an early exit in the group stages. Under his management, this team looks exciting, and there is much expected of it. Fans are eager to see The UAE national football team qualify for the world cup 2022.

Exciting striker “Ali Mabkhout”

Firstly, this player is highly ranked in UAE. He is a lethal striker who can poach the opposition box and convert half chances into goals. His striking prowess is clear as he was the top scorer in the 2016/2017 UAE gulf league as well as Al-Jazira. He is a player to watch, and that makes this team more exciting.

UAE football national team and club

The exciting player in “Ahmed Khalil”

He is a striker of The UAE national football team. He is also highly ranked because of his goal poaching capabilities. As a four-time UAE champion, Ahmed Khalil gives this team an edge. He is a player who can win games for the team, and that is something exciting.

The exciting attacker “Omar Abdulrahman”

Will silky moves and footballing skills, Omar Abdulrahman makes this team better at attacking. He is a very good dribbler and will beat opposition players easily. Playing in the midfield position, he helps Omar Abdulrahman start attacking moves and win games. Therefore, he is highly rated and was the voted AFC player of the year in 2016.

Young rising stars

The UAE national football team is not short of talent. There are plenty of you players who are already proving they are good enough in the highest competitions in the UAE. Young players like Khalifa Al Hammadi, Ali Saleh, Mohamed Al Shamsi, and Yahya Ai Ghassani make this team exciting and promising.

Incredible grounds

The primary grounds of The UAE national football team are located at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. That is UAE’s second most populated city. The stadium has a capacity of forty-five thousand fans, and that makes it the largest stadium in UAE. So, yhe incredible thing about this stadium is that it is open to the air outside.

Conclusion

In short, the UAE national football team is exciting and has a lot of potentials. Under the guidance of Bert, the team is destined to achieve a lot. Likewise, here you can find UAE football asociation webpage.