Al Wahda Football Club ( ar, نادي الوحدة لكرة القدم) is an Emirati professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

, that competes in the

UAE Pro League The UAE Pro League ( ar, دوري المحترفين الإماراتي), known for sponsorship reasons as the ADNOC Pro League, is the top professional football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The first team to win the title was Al O ...

. The club was founded in 1974 and plays its home games at the

Al Nahyan Stadium Al-Nahyan Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is also known as Al Wahda stadium. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Al Wahda. The stadium holds 15,000 people and ...

. 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 Al Ain ( ar, ٱلْعَيْن, , ) is a city in the western side of Tawam (region), Tuwwam region and the seat of the administrative division of its namesake, Al-Ain Region, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. ...

. In 2018, Al Wahda changed its official logo as part of a new club redesign.

Honours

Leagues

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

UAE Division One UAE First Division League is the second tier of football league competition in the United Arab Emirates. As of 2020–21, the league features 15 sides who play each other in a home and away round-robin format, with a total of 28 games for each ...

: 2 * Champions: 1976–77, 1984–85

Cups

UAE President's Cup The UAE President's Cup, or simply the President Cup, is a football tournament that takes place in United Arab Emirates, between clubs in the UAE Pro League and the UAE First Division League. The winner qualifies for the AFC Champions League. Hi ...

: 2 * Champions: 1999–2000, 2016–17

UAE Super Cup The UAE Super Cup ( ar, كأس السوبر الإماراتي), is the curtain raiser of the United Arab Emirates football season. It is played between the previous season's Pro-League winners and President's Cup Winners. The first edition was p ...

: 4 * Champions: 2002, 2011, 2017,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

UAE Federation Cup The Federation cup (Arabic: كأس الإتحاد الإماراتي ) was a United Arab Emirates football tournament for UAE Football League The UAE Pro League ( ar, دوري المحترفين الإماراتي), known for sponsorship reason ...

: 3 * Champions: 1986, 1995, 2001

UAE League Cup The UAE League Cup ( ar, كأس رابطة المحترفين الإماراتية) or the Pro League Cup is a knockout tournament for clubs in the UAE Pro-League. The first edition of the tournament was played in the 2008–2009 season. In the 2 ...

: 2 * Champions: 2015–16, 2017–18

Performance in AFC competitions

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 The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

regularly by winning the President's Cup or consistently finishing near the top in the league. *

: 12 appearances ::

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

: Quarter-finals ::

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

: Group stage :: 2007: Semi-finals ::

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

: Group stage ::

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

: Group stage ::

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

: Group stage ::

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

: Play-offs ::

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

: Group stage ::

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

: Round of 16 ::

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

: ''Withdrew'' ::

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

: Quarter-finals *

Asian Club Championship The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

: 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

The

Al-Nahyan Stadium Al-Nahyan Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is also known as Al Wahda stadium. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Al Wahda. The stadium holds 15,000 people and ...

is the home of Al Wahda. It has 15,000 seats and located only three kilometers from the downtown at the heart of Abu Dhabi City.

Current squad

Unregistered players

Out on loan

Coaching Staff

Past managers

{{columns-list, * {{flagicon, Egypt, 1972 Helmy Toulan (1979–84) * {{flagicon, Iran

Heshmat Mohajerani Heshmatollah Mohajerani ( fa, , born 13 December 1939) is a retired Iranian association football midfielder and manager. Early life and playing career Mohajerani was born to Asadoolah Mohajerani and Leila Nassiri in a family of six siblings ...

(1984–86) * {{flagicon, Serbia

Slobodan Halilović Slobodan Halilović (; born 1 January 1951) is a Bosnian Serb football manager and former player. Honours Player ;Radnički Niš *Balkan Cup: 1976 Coach ;Radnički Niš *Yugoslav Second League: 1985-86 ;Mogren *Second League of FR Yugoslavia ...

(1991–92) * {{flagicon, Egypt Mahmoud El-Gohary (1995–96) * {{flagicon, Netherlands

Jo Bonfrere Jo, jo, JO, or J.O. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Jo'' (film), a 1972 French comedy * ''Jo'' (TV series), a French TV series *"Jo", a song by Goldfrapp from ''Tales of Us'' *"Jo", a song by Mr. Oizo from ''Lambs Anger'' * Jo a fictio ...

(1998–99) * {{flagicon, Netherlands

Ruud Krol Rudolf ("Ruud" or "Rudi") Jozef Krol (; born 24 March 1949) is a Dutch former professional footballer who was capped 83 times for the Netherlands national team. Most of his career he played for his home town club, Ajax, and he became a coach ...

(1999) * {{flagicon, Belgium

Dimitri Davidovic Dimitrije "Dimitri" Davidović (), born 21 May 1944 is a Serbian–Belgian football manager and former player. Playing career Davidović was a professional soccer player during 16 years in the first divisions of Europe. FK Partizan Born in Al ...

(1999–00) * {{flagicon, Netherlands

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(2000–01) * {{flagicon, Netherlands

(2001–02) * {{flagicon, Turkey Cemşir Muratoğlu (2002–03) * {{flagicon, Austria

Rolf Fringer Rolf is a male given name and a surname. It originates in the Germanic name ''Hrolf'', itself a contraction of ''Hrodwulf'' ( Rudolf), a conjunction of the stem words ''hrod'' ("renown") + ''wulf'' ("wolf"). The Old Norse cognate is ''Hrólfr''. ...

(March 14, 2003 – June 30, 2003) * {{flagicon, France

Rolland Courbis Rolland Courbis (; born 12 August 1953) is a French football manager and former professional player who played as a defender. He was most recently manager of Stade Rennais F.C., having replaced Philippe Montanier on 20 January 2016. Career Bo ...

(July 1, 2003 – Nov 30, 2003) * {{flagicon, Netherlands

(Dec 1, 2003 – June 30, 2004) * {{flagicon, Egypt Ahmad Abdel-Halim (2004–0?) * {{flagicon, Germany

Reiner Hollmann Reiner Hollmann (born 30 September 1949) is a German former football player and now manager. Footballer Before coming to Duisburg, Hollmann was in the youth section of Eintracht Duisburg. He played from 1970 to 1984 for Rot-Weiß Oberhausen a ...

(July 1, 2005 – April 3, 2006) * {{flagicon, France

Richard Tardy Richard Francis Emile Tardy (born 29 July 1950) is a French former professional football player and manager. He led several clubs and national teams as a coach. Career Tardy has managed in the Superleague Greece with Aris Thessaloniki F.C., a ...

(200?–Aug 4, 2006) * {{flagicon, Germany

Horst Köppel Horst Köppel (born 17 May 1948) is a German football manager and former player who last worked as manager for FC Ingolstadt 04 in 2009. Playing career Köppel scored 83 goals in the West German top-flight. For the West Germany national team ...

(Aug 5, 2006 – Oct 11, 2006){{cite news, title=Köppel wechselt in die VAE, url=http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/intligen/startseite/353284/artikel_koeppel-wechselt-in-die-vae.html, access-date=9 February 2013, newspaper=kicker, date=5 August 2006, language=de, archive-date=18 May 2014, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140518015525/http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/intligen/startseite/353284/artikel_koeppel-wechselt-in-die-vae.html, url-status=live * {{flagicon, Netherlands

(Dec 13, 2007 – Dec 17, 2008) * {{flagicon, Austria

Josef Hickersberger Josef Hickersberger (born 27 April 1948) is a former professional football player and former coach of the Austria national football team and Austrian club side Rapid Wien. Club career Hickersberger was born in Amstetten, Austria. He started hi ...

(Dec 10, 2008 – June 1, 2010) * {{flagicon, Romania

László Bölöni László Bölöni ( ro, Ladislau Bölöni; born 11 March 1953) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Ligue 2 club Metz. He is best known for his time at Sporting CP as a manager where he introduced C ...

(May 29, 2010 – Sept 2, 2010) * {{flagicon, Brazil Tite (Aug 31, 2010 – Oct 19, 2010) * {{flagicon, Austria

(Oct 22, 2010 – June 30, 2012) * {{flagicon, Croatia

Branko Ivanković Branko Ivanković (; born 28 February 1954) is a Croatian former footballer who played as a midfielder, and the current manager of the Oman national team. After a 12-year playing career at Varteks, Ivanković started his coaching career at the ...

(May 20, 2012 – April 28, 2013) * {{flagicon, Austria

(April 28, 2013 – July 15, 2013) * {{flagicon, Czech Republic

Karel Jarolím Karel Jarolím (born 23 August 1956) is a Czech football coach and former Czechoslovakia international footballer. As a player, he played as a midfielder and made 275 appearances in the Czechoslovak First League. Career Jarolím was the coach o ...

(July 15, 2013 – Nov 9, 2013) * {{flagicon, Portugal

José Peseiro José Vítor dos Santos Peseiro (born 4 April 1960) is a Portuguese football manager and former player who played as a forward. He is the manager of the Nigeria national team. After an unassuming career as a player, he went on to coach sever ...

(Nov 11, 2013 – Jan 11, 2015) * {{flagicon, Saudi Arabia

Sami Al-Jaber Sami Abdullah Al-Jaber ( ar, سامي الجابر; born 11 December 1972) is a Saudi Arabian football manager and former professional player who played as a striker. He spent the entirety of his career with Al-Hilal apart from a five-month ...

(Jan 11, 2015 – May 19, 2015) * {{flagicon, Mexico

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(June 18, 2015 – May 20, 2017) * {{flagicon, Romania

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(July 3, 2017 – November 25, 2018) * {{flagicon, Netherlands

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(December 7, 2018 – May 26, 2019) * {{flagicon, Netherlands

Maurice Steijn Maurice Steijn (born 20 November 1973) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the current head coach of Sparta Rotterdam. He formerly worked with ADO Den Haag, VVV-Venlo, Al Wahda FC, and NAC Breda. Managerial career AD ...

(June 9, 2019 – October 17, 2019) * {{flagicon, ESP Manuel Jiménez (October 17, 2019 – July 18, 2020) * {{flagicon, Netherlands

Mark Wotte Mark Christian Wotte (born 16 December 1960) is a Dutch football manager and former player. Wotte has managed teams in the Netherlands, Egypt, Qatar, England and Romania, and has also worked for the Scottish Football Association. Playing career ...

(July 18, 2020 – September 8, 2020) * {{flagicon, Serbia Vuk Rasovic (September 8, 2020 – March 12, 2021) * {{flagicon, Netherlands

(March 13, 2021 – October 25, 2021) * {{flagicon, France Grégory Dufrennes (October 26, 2021 – June 3, 2022) * {{flagicon, Portugal

Carlos Carvalhal Carlos Augusto Soares da Costa Faria Carvalhal (; born 4 December 1965) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a centre-back, currently manager of La Liga club RC Celta de Vigo. As a player, he totalled 197 Primeira Liga appearances in ...

(July 1, 2022 – October 2, 2022){{cite web, title=Carlos Carvalhal leaves Al Wahda, url=https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/carlos-carvalhals-path-hull-city-7659770, publisher=Hull Daily Mail, access-date=5 October 2022

Pro-League record

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" , -bgcolor="#efefef" ! Season ! Lvl. ! Tms. ! Pos. !

President's Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, - , 2008–09 , 1 , 12 , 4th , Semi-Finals , bgcolor=silver, Runner-ups , - , 2009–10 , 1 , 12 , bgcolor=gold, 1st , Semi-Finals , Semi-Finals , - , 2010–11 , 1 , 12 , 5th , bgcolor=silver, 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 , bgcolor=silver, 2nd , Quarter-Finals , First Round , - , 2014–15 , 1 , 14 , 4th , Round of 16 , First Round , - , 2015–16 , 1 , 14 , bgcolor="#cc9966", 3rd , Round of 16 , bgcolor=gold, Champions , - , 2016–17 , 1 , 14 , 5th , bgcolor=gold, Champions , First Round , - , 2017–18 , 1 , 12 , bgcolor=silver, 2nd , Semi-Finals , bgcolor=gold, Champions , - , 2018–19 , 1 , 14 , bgcolor="#cc9966", 3rd , Round of 16 , bgcolor=silver, Runner-ups , - , 2019–20{{ref, a, a, Corona , 1 , 14 , 5th , Round of 16 , Quarter-Finals , - ,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 1 , 14 , 7th , Round of 16 , First Round , - , 2021–22 , 1 , 14 , bgcolor="#cc9966", 3rd , bgcolor=silver, Runner-ups , Semi-Finals _{Notes{{note, a 2019–20 UAE football season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates

The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in the United Arab Emirates was announce ...
.} Key * Pos. = Position * Tms. = Number of teams * Lvl. = League

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
{{in lang, ar *{{Facebook, 375868319246380/ {{Al Wahda FC {{Al Wahda FC squad {{Arabian Gulf League teamlist Wahda Association football clubs established in 1984 Sport in Abu Dhabi Sport in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi 1984 establishments in the United Arab Emirates