Al Wahda FC

This article is about the Emirati football club. For other clubs, see Al-Wahda.

Al Wahda Football Club (Arabic: نادي الوحدة لكرة القدم, romanized: al-waḥda, lit. 'Union') is an Emirati professional football club based in Abu Dhabi, that competes in the UAE Pro League.^[2] The club was founded in 1974 and plays its home games at the Al Nahyan Stadium. The club's colours are maroon, navy blue and white.

Al Wahda FC
نادي الوحدة لكرة القدم

Full name	Al Wahda Football Club
Founded	June 3, 1984; 40 years ago (1984-06-03)
Ground	Al Nahyan Stadium
Capacity	15,894[1]
Owner	Diab Bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Chairman	Rashid Bin Diab Al Nahyan
Head coach	Darko Milanič
League	UAE Pro League
2023–24	UAE Pro League, 5th
Website	www.alwahda-sc.com
Home colours Away colours
Current season

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

Leagues

UAE Pro League: 4

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

UAE Division One: 2

• Champions: 1976–77, 1984–85

Cups

UAE President's Cup: 2

• Champions: 1999–2000, 2016–17

UAE Federation Cup: 3

• Champions: 1986, 1995, 2001

UAE League Cup: 3

• Champions: 2015–16, 2017–18, 2023–24

UAE Super Cup: 4

• Champions: 2002, 2011, 2017, 2018^[3]

Home stadium

An outer view of the Al Nahyan Stadium

The Al Nahyan Stadium is the home of Al Wahda.^[4] Built in 1995 and renovated for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, it seats 15,895 supporters. It lays beside Al Wahda Mall, on Ahmed Bin Khalaf Al Otaiba Street, and is hence located in the centre of the city of Abu Dhabi.

Performance in AFC competitions

Al Wahda has been qualifying for Asian competitions since the late 90s. They have made multiple appearances in the AFC Champions League. Al Wahda FC made two appearances in the Asian Cup Winners Cup, in the 1998–99 and the 2000–01 seasons, reaching the first round on both occasions.

Al 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.
Arab Club Champions Cup
Season	Preliminary stages										Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarter-finals	Semi-finals	Final
2017													Al Ahly1
2023										Bourj	ASFAR	CR Belouizdad1	Al Shabab
FIFA Club World Cup
Season	Preliminary stages													Semi-finals / Fifth match	Final / Third match
2010												Hekari United	Seongnam	Pachuca

Season	AFC Champions League
Asian Club Championship
1999–00	First round
2000-01	Did not qualify
2001–02	Group stage
AFC Champions League
2002-03	Did not qualify
2004	Quarter-finals
2005	Did not qualify
2006	Group stage
2007	Semi-finals
2008	Group stage
2009	Did not qualify
2010	Round of 32
2011	Round of 32
2012	Did not qualify
2013	Did not qualify
2014	Did not qualify
2015	Play-offs
2016	Did not qualify
2017	Round of 32
2018	Round of 32
2019	Round of 16
2020	Withdrew
2021	Quarter-finals
2022	Did not qualify
2023-24	Did not qualify
AFC Champions League Elite
2024-25	Did not qualify

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  UAE Mohamed Al-Shamsi 2 DF  UAE Mansour Saleh U23 3 DF  UAE Lucas Pimenta 4 DF  SRB Saša Ivković 5 DF  TUN Alaeddine Zouhir 6 DF  BRA Gianluca Muniz 7 MF  IRN Ahmad Nourollahi (c) 8 MF  UAE Abdelaziz Al-Balushi 9 FW  CMR Leonel Wamba U23 11 FW  ARG Facundo Kruspzky 12 MF  UAE Abdulla Hamad 14 MF  UAE Khamis Nasser U23 15 MF  UZB Khojimat Erkinov 16 MF  UAE Abdulla Ahmed U23 17 MF  NGA Philip Otele 19 DF  POR Rúben Canedo 20 FW  UAE Mansoor Saeed U23 21 DF  UAE Abdullah Khalid U23 22 MF  POR Bernardo Folha U23

No. Pos. Nation Player 25 MF  BRA Jadsom 26 MF  MAR Ahmed Jawar 28 DF  UAE Zayed Abdulrahim U23 30 DF  NGA Favour Ogbu 32 DF  POR Guga U23 36 GK  UAE Zayed Al-Hammadi 41 MF  NIG Oumarou Diadje U23 50 GK  UAE Rashed Ali 56 MF  UAE Yasser Alo Ali U23 60 MF  IRN Mohammad Ghorbani 64 DF  UAE Rashed Issam U23 65 MF  CMR Patient Wassou U23 66 GK  UAE Hazaa Ammar 68 DF  UAE Mohamed Ali 70 FW  SYR Omar Khribin 77 FW  UAE Awadh Al-Katheeri U23 90 FW  UAE Saud Al-Naqbi U18 94 MF  MLI Brahima Diarra U23 99 MF  COL Kevin Agudelo (on loan from Al-Nasr)

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 13 DF  UAE Hazaa Shehab U23 (on loan to United)

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 DF  UAE Khalid Al-Jabri U23 (on loan to United)

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Head Coach	Darko Milanič
Assistant Coach	Sandro Bloudek
Goalkeeper Coach	Abdullslam Jumaa
Fitness Coach	Marco Vego Monsef Al-Shikh
Club Doctor	Waleed Al-Shikh
Medical Therapist	Ninad Martino
Massage Therapist	Bojo Sinkovic Vlafmir Harfman

Managerial history

^* Served as caretaker coach.

Name	Nat.	From	To	Ref.
Helmy Toulan		1979	1984
Heshmat Mohajerani		1984	1986
Slobodan Halilović		1991	1992
Mahmoud El-Gohary		1995	1996
Jo Bonfrère		1998	1999
Ruud Krol		1999	1999
Dimitri Davidovic		1999	2000
Rinus Israël		2000	2001
Jo Bonfrère		2001	2002
Cemşir Muratoğlu		2002	2003
Rolf Fringer		14 March 2003	30 June 2003
Rolland Courbis		1 July 2003	30 November 2003
Rinus Israël		1 December 2003	30 June 2004
Ahmad Abdel-Halim		2004	2005
Reiner Hollmann		1 July 2005	3 April 2006
Richard Tardy		2006	4 August 2006
Horst Köppel		5 August 2006	11 October 2006	[5]
Jo Bonfrère		13 December 2007	10 December 2008
Josef Hickersberger		10 December 2008	1 June 2010
László Bölöni		29 May 2010	2 September 2010	[6]
Tite		31 August 2010	19 October 2010
Josef Hickersberger		22 October 2010	30 June 2012
Branko Ivanković		20 May 2012	28 April 2013
Josef Hickersberger		28 April 2013	15 July 2013
Karel Jarolím		15 July 2013	9 November 2013
José Peseiro		11 November 2013	11 January 2015
Sami Al-Jaber		11 January 2015	19 May 2015
Javier Aguirre		18 June 2015	20 May 2017	[7]
Laurențiu Reghecampf		3 July 2017	25 November 2018
Henk ten Cate		7 December 2018	26 May 2019
Maurice Steijn		9 June 2019	17 October 2019
Manuel Jiménez		17 October 2019	18 July 2020	[8]
Mark Wotte		18 July 2020	8 September 2020
Vuk Rasovic		8 September 2020	12 March 2021	[9]
Henk ten Cate		13 March 2021	25 October 2021
Grégory Dufrennes		26 October 2021	3 June 2022
Carlos Carvalhal		1 July 2022	2 October 2022	[10]
Manuel Jiménez		5 October 2022	12 March 2023
Arno Buitenweg*		13 March 2023	17 June 2023
Pitso Mosimane		18 June 2023	10 November 2023	[11]
Arno Buitenweg*		10 November 2023	5 January 2024
Goran Tufegdžić		5 January 2024	5 July 2024
Ronny Deila		5 July 2024	18 December 2024
Darko Milanič		18 December 2024	Present

Pro-League record

Season	Level	No. of teams	Position	President's Cup	League Cup
2008–09	1	12	4th	Semi-Finals	Runner-ups
2009–10	1	12	1st	Semi-Finals	Semi-Finals
2010–11	1	12	5th	Runner-ups	Semi-Finals
2011–12	1	12	6th	Semi-Finals	First Round
2012–13	1	14	7th	Semi-Finals	Semi-Finals
2013–14	1	14	2nd	Quarter-Finals	First Round
2014–15	1	14	4th	Round of 16	First Round
2015–16	1	14	3rd	Round of 16	Champions
2016–17	1	14	5th	Champions	First Round
2017–18	1	12	2nd	Semi-Finals	Champions
2018–19	1	14	3rd	Round of 16	Runner-ups
2019–20a	1	14	5th	Round of 16	Quarter-Finals
2020–21	1	14	7th	Round of 16	First Round
2021–22	1	14	3rd	Runner-ups	Semi-Finals
2022–23	1	14	3rd	Preliminary Round	Quarter-Finals
2023–24	1	14	5th	Round of 16	Champions

_{Notes^ 2019–20 UAE football season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates}

See also

• List of football clubs in the United Arab Emirates