Al Dhafra FC () is a 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

Madinat Zayed , settlement_type = , translit_lang1_type = , translit_lang1_info = , image_skyline = File:Madinat Zayed - United Arab Emirates 1 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_coat ...

, United Arab Emirates. As of the 2020–21 season they play in the UAE Arabian Gulf League. Their futsal club participated in AFC Futsal Club Championship.

History

Al Dhafra FC was established in 2000, as part of a policy to promote sports across the country and the

Al Dhafra Al Dhafra FC () is a professional football club based in Madinat Zayed, United Arab Emirates. As of the 2020–21 season they play in the UAE Arabian Gulf League. Their futsal club participated in AFC Futsal Club Championship. History Al D ...

region of

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. ...

had no team, so Al Dhafra is the first and only club to be located in the western region. For most of its history the club was classified as a semi-professional club according to the UAE Pro League committee and did not have licenses to compete in the AFC competitions but the team had continued to appeal for a license since qualifying for the

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. His ...

for the first time in 2019. Around 2020 the club finally obtained their licenses, thus all pro league teams can compete in AFC competitions.

Current squad

''As of

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 ...

:''

Out on loan

{, , - , valign="top" , {, class="wikitable sortable" , - ! style="color:Blue; background: yellow; border:2px solid #0000FF;", No ! style="color:Blue; background: yellow; border:2px solid #0000FF;", Position ! style="color:Blue; background: yellow; border:2px solid #0000FF;", Player ! style="color:Blue; background: yellow; border:2px solid #0000FF;", Nation , -

Managers

Mohammad Kwid Mohammad Ismael Kwid ( ar, محمد اسماعيل قويض; born 9 April 1956), also known as Abu Shakir ( ar, أبو شاكر), is a Syrian football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Emirati club Al Dhafra. He is consid ...

(2008) * Laurent Banide (2009) *

Baltemar Brito Baltemar José de Oliveira Brito (born 9 January 1952) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a central defender, and a current coach of Highlanders football club in Zimbabwe. Playing career Born in Recife, Pernambuco, Bri ...

(2011) *

Džemal Hadžiabdić Džemaludin "Džemal" Hadžiabdić, commonly known as Čorba or Jamal Haji (born 25 July 1953), is a Bosnian professional football manager and former professional footballer who played as a defender. Playing career International He made his debu ...

(2011–12) * Laurent Banide (2012–13) *

Abdullah Mesfer Abdullah Ahmed Khalfan Mesfer (born 28 January 1962) is an Emirati professional football manager. Career In 2000 and from 2011 to 2012 he coached United Arab Emirates national football team. Later he trained the Dibba Al-Fujairah and Al Dhafra ...

(2013–14) *

Anel Karabeg Anel Karabeg (born 7 March 1962) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player who is currently working as an assistant manager of Croatian First Football League club HNK Šibenik. Club career His playing career started in the 198 ...

(2014) *

Marin Ion Marin Ion (also known as Ion Marin; born 25 March 1955) is a Romanian football manager and former defender who currently manages Romania women's national under-19 football team. Playing career Marin started his football career as a defender ...

(2014–15) *

(2015–18) *

Gjoko Hadžievski Gjoko Hadžievski or Ǵoko Hadžievski ( mk, Ѓоко Хаџиевски; born 31 March 1955) is a football coach from North Macedonia who was most recently the manager of Hatta Club, Hatta. He coached teams from Bulgaria (PFC CSKA Sofia, CSKA ...

(2018) *

Vuk Rašović Vuk Rašović (Serbian Cyrillic: Вук Рашовић; born 3 January 1973) is a former Serbian footballer who is now the coach of Saudi Arabian club Al-Fayha. Playing career Rašović started to play for the youth teams of FK Partizan. He pla ...

(2018–2020) * Aleksandar Veselinović (2020–2021) *

(2021) *

Rogério Micale Mário Rogério Reis Micale (born 28 March 1969), known as Rogério Micale, is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player Career Micale also represented Londrina, Apucarana and Operário Ferroviário before retiring at the age of ...

(2021–2022) *

Nebojša Vignjević Nebojša Vignjević (; born 15 May 1968) is a Serbian Association football, football manager and former player. Playing career Vignjević came through the youth system of FK Partizan, Partizan, but failed to make any first-team appearances. He st ...

(02.07.2022–31.10.2022) * Aleksandar Veselinović (01.11.2022–)

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 , 8th , Semi-Finals , First Round , - , 2009–10 , 1 , 12 , 9th , Quarter-Finals , First Round , - , 2010–11 , 1 , 12 , bgcolor="#FFCCCC", 12th , Round of 16 , First Round , - , 2011–12 , 2 , 8 , bgcolor="#ACE1AF", 4th , Round of 16 , — , - , 2012–13 , 1 , 14 , 8th , Round of 16 , First Round , - , 2013–14 , 1 , 14 , 8th , Semi-Finals , Semi-Finals , - , 2014–15 , 1 , 14 , 11th , Semi-Finals , First Round , - , 2015–16 , 1 , 14 , 8th , Round of 16 , First Round , - , 2016–17 , 1 , 14 , 7th , Round of 16 , First Round , - , 2017–18 , 1 , 12 , 10th , Round of 16 , First Round , - , 2018–19 , 1 , 14 , 10th , bgcolor=Silver, Runner-ups , First Round , - , 2019–20 , 1 , 14 , 7th , ''Finalists'' , First Round , - ,

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 , 11th , Quarter-Finals , First Round , - , 2021–22 , 1 , 14 , 12th , Round of 16 , First Round _{Notes 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

Honours

: ::*Runners-up (1): 2018–19 ::*Finalist (1): 2019–20 *

UAE First Division League 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 t ...

: 2 ::*Champions: 2001–02, 2006–07 *

UAE Vice Presidents Cup The UAE Vice Presidents Cup was played between 2009 and 2012. There have been a total of 3 editions. Winners * 2009/10 : Dubai 2–2 Al Shaab (aet, 5-3 pens) * 2010/11 : Ajman 2–1 Dibba Al Fujairah * 2011/12 : Al Dhafra 2–0 Kalba See also ...

: 1 ::*Champions: 2012

References

External links

Official site
{{UAE Pro-League teamlist

Dhafra Al Dhafra FC () is a professional football club based in Madinat Zayed, United Arab Emirates. As of the 2020–21 season they play in the UAE Arabian Gulf League. Their futsal club participated in AFC Futsal Club Championship. History Al Dhaf ...

Sport in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi 2000 establishments in the United Arab Emirates Association football clubs established in 2000