Fahad Thani (born 1 December 1973) is a
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
i former
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 ...
player and current
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
of the
Qatar olympic football team. Thani, coaching mainly youth teams, including the
Qatar U–17, was named as the replacement for
Paulo Autuori
Paulo Autuori de Mello (born 25 August 1956), known as Paulo Autuori, is a Brazilian football executive and manager who is the current manager of Atlético Nacional.
Early life
A football fan since early childhood and a futsal player, Paulo Au ...
as head coach of the
Qatar national team in January 2013.
Thani graduated from the University of Qatar in 1996 with a degree in athletic training and in 1999 achieved an AFC "C" Coaching License and later in 2005 earned an AFC "A" License.
Career
Playing career
Starting his playing career in the youth teams of
Al Ahli, Thani played as a right back. He broke into the first team in 1990 at the age of 17, at a time when Al Ahli was undergoing its best years with the likes of
Adel Malallah and
Issa Ahmed playing for the club.
His most notable achievement with Al Ahli was when he won the
Emir of Qatar Cup
Emir of Qatar Cup ( ar, كأس أمير قطر), also known as the Emir Cup, but changed to Amir Cup starting in 2019, is an association football tournament played every season by 18 first and second division teams. The most successful is Al Sad ...
in 1992, defeating Al Rayyan in the 2nd leg after losing the 1st leg 2–1.
He also played for Qatar's national youth teams.
Managerial career
Thani retired from football in 1993 and took up coaching. He first coached the youth teams of
Al Rayyan
Al Rayyan (; also spelled as ''Ar Rayyan'') is the third-largest municipality in the state of Qatar. Its primary settlement is the city of the same name, which occupies the entire eastern section and largely surrounds Metropolitan Doha and funct ...
and
Al Ahli from 1994 to 1999, in addition to landing a job as the assistant coach of the
Qatar U–17 team in 1995. He worked alongside future
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
coach
René Meulensteen
Reinhard Jozef Petrus Meulensteen (born 25 March 1964) is a Dutch former footballer and coach who is currently assistant coach of the Australia national soccer team. He spent the early parts of his career working in the Netherlands before taking ...
. After a two-year stint with the
Qatar U–14 team, he was appointed head coach of the
Qatar U–17 team in 2005. However, he failed to guide his team through the Asian qualifiers that year and also failed to make an impact in the 2006
GCC U-17 Championship
The GCC U-17 Championship is an annual international football competition organised by the Gulf Cooperation Council
The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf ( ar, مجلس التعاون لدول العربية الخليج ), ...
.
After leaving his national team post, he was a part of
ASPIRE Academy
Aspire Academy ( ar, أكاديمية أسباير, Akādīmiyat 'Asbāyr) is a sports academy based in the Aspire Zone in Qatar, founded in 2004 with the goal to scout and help develop Qatari athletes, whilst also providing them with secondary ...
's coaching staff, managing the U–16 team. In 2011, he once again joined the Qatar U–17 team as an assistant coach during the
2011 GCC U-17 Championship. He was later appointed as the assistant coach of
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
under
Sebastião Lazaroni
Sebastião Barroso Lazaroni, (born 25 September 1950) is a Brazilian football manager who last coached Qatar Stars League club Qatar SC. He was born in Muriaé, Minas Gerais state.
He is well known in Brazil as the manager who tried to intro ...
in August 2011. In January 2013, after a series of disappointing results and performances, namely a lackluster performance in the
21st Arabian Gulf Cup
The 21st Arabian Gulf Cup ( ar, كأس الخليج العربي) was the twenty-first edition of the biennial football competition. It took place in Bahrain in January 2013. The competition was originally scheduled to be hosted in the city of ...
,
Paulo Autuori
Paulo Autuori de Mello (born 25 August 1956), known as Paulo Autuori, is a Brazilian football executive and manager who is the current manager of Atlético Nacional.
Early life
A football fan since early childhood and a futsal player, Paulo Au ...
mutually terminated his contract with the
QFA and Thani was chosen as the new head coach.
He adopted a different policy on player selection than his predecessors, with only 7 of the 26 players he called up for the
2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification
The 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification was a qualification process organized by the AFC to determine the participating teams for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. The 2015 AFC Asian Cup, hosted by Australia, featured 16 teams.
In the initial scheme, ten p ...
being foreign-born. His managerial debut came against
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
, which Qatar emerged 1–0 winners of after dominating the game, and, consequently, missing a late penalty. A week later, on 6 February, Qatar played their first competitive match against
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
as part of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification. They narrowly won the match 2–0.
Thani's first real test as manager of Qatar came against
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
on 8 March 2013 in a match which was organized in preparation for a World Cup Qualifying match against
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
. Previously, on 28 December 2012, Egypt had defeated Qatar 2–0, then under Paulo Autuori, in Doha. However, under Thani's command, the match ended in a 3–1 victory for Qatar in the same venue. Egypt were missing most of their key players and the match was not recorded in FIFA's official calendar.
His team's first competitive loss came against
Bahrain
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
on 18 March 2013 in an away match for the
2015 AFC Asian Cup
The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 2015. The tournament was ...
qualifiers. Qatar then lost 1–2 to
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
in an away match on 26 March 2013 due to a goal in the last minute of injury time for the hosts.
Honors
Al Ahli
*
Emir of Qatar Cup
Emir of Qatar Cup ( ar, كأس أمير قطر), also known as the Emir Cup, but changed to Amir Cup starting in 2019, is an association football tournament played every season by 18 first and second division teams. The most successful is Al Sad ...
: 1992
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thani, Fahad
1973 births
Living people
Qatari men's footballers
Qatar men's international footballers
Al Ahli SC (Doha) players
Qatar national football team managers
Qatari football managers
Qatar University alumni
Aspire Academy managers
Qatar Stars League players
Men's association football fullbacks
Footballers from Doha