Mahdi Ali Hassan Redha (born 20 April 1965 in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

) is a former Emirati

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and current coach. He is currently the coach of Shabab Al-Ahli. From 2010 until 2012, Ali led the United Arab Emirates Olympic team to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. It was the nation's first appearance. He also led the UAE to their second Arabian Gulf Cup title in

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and also led them to a third-place finish at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

Playing career

Ali took up football with Al Ahli's youth sides at age six, and he progressed steadily through their system. He made his first-team debut at the age of 16 in 1983. Ali won two

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 ...

medallions and played a crucial role in the 1988 final against Al Shabab.

Coaching career

Early years

Ali returned to football after that and has previously coached several United Arab Emirates national football teams at various age-levels. He has also managed some top-level clubs in his native country. A former midfield player of note, Ali's coaching career began in 1998 with the U10s at the Al Ahli in Dubai. He spent a year in

with his family in 2000 and earned a coaching certificate, and later the football association sent him to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

for his A level certificate. The UAE FA called him in 2008, while he was on leave from his government job in Dubai, asking him if he would coach the U19 national team.

Youth levels

Ali has had unprecedented success in leading what has been dubbed the "golden generation" of Emirati players, beginning with the AFC U-19 Championship in

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and continuing with a final-eight performance in the

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...

in 2009 and a U23 Gulf Cup championship and a silver medal in the Asian Games. On 7 April 2011, Baniyas appointed Ali as caretaker coach after the club parted company with Lutfi al Benzarti, who led them to promotion in 2009 and fourth in the Pro League in 2010. Baniyas were second in the league when Ali took charge and he maintained that position behind Al Jazira.

UAE national team

On 15 August 2012, he was appointed as the UAE senior team's coach. He became the fourth non-foreign manager of the national team after replacing Abdullah Masfar. Under his management, the UAE played so well as they finished first in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification and gained the second Arabian Gulf Cup title in

, after the first one of

Bruno Metsu Bruno Jean Cornil Metsu (28 January 1954 – 15 October 2013) was a French footballer and football manager. During his senior playing career from 1973 to 1987, he played for seven different clubs in his native France. From 1988 until his death, ...

. He led United Arab Emirates to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup where they defeated

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 ...

and

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 ...

and lost to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and faced Japan in quarter-final and won the match in penalties and reached to semi-finals. However, UAE lost to Australia in semi-finals and failed to progress to the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. His side defeated

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

3–2 in third/fourth place play-off and ended their campaign in third-place. He is also the first Emirati coach of national team in an AFC Asian Cup tournament. On 27 February 2015, he extended his contract with UAE until 2018. He resigned from his position after UAE loss to Australia 2–0 on the World Cup qualifications match on 28 March 2017.

Shabab Al Ahli

Ali coached Shabab Al Ahli during their first season in 2017–18 where they finished mid table, he left after his contract ended without winning any notable domestic trophies. He later returned to the club in the

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 ...

season after the club dismissed their previous coach for the poor start to the season. By late January, Ali would win the

2020 UAE Super Cup The 2020 UAE Super Cup was the 13th professional and 20th overall UAE Super Cup, an annual football match played between the winners of the previous season's Pro-League and President's Cup. Due to the cancellation of last year's tournament as a ...

after defeating

Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital ...

1–0 with an injury time goal scored by

Mohammed Marzooq Mohammed Marzooq Abdulaa Mohd Al-Matroushi (Arabic:محمد مرزوق) (born 23 January 1989) is an Emirati footballer. He currently plays as a centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose prim ...

. Ali won his second honour with the club after a 5–4 victory on penalties against Al Nasr on the league cup final. Ali won his third honour in the president's cup final against Al Nasr after defeating them 2–1.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Al Ahli *

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 ...

: 1988, 1996

Manager

United Arab Emirates U-19 * AFC U-19 Championship:

United Arab Emirates U-23 * Asian Games silver medalists: 2010 United Arab Emirates * Arabian Gulf Cup:

, third place

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* AFC Asian Cup third place: 2015 Shabab Al Ahli *

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 ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

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 ...

Personal life

Mahdi was born in

in 1965. After his playing days, Ali attended the HCT – Dubai Men's College where he graduated as an electrical engineer and later assisted in the design of the

Dubai Metro The Dubai Metro is a rapid transit rail network in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is currently operated by the French company Keolis. The Red Line and Green Line are operational, with a major 15 km (9.3 mi) extension to the Red L ...

. While working for

Dubai Municipality Dubai Municipality ( ar, بلدية دبي) is the Government of Dubai municipal body with jurisdiction over city services and the upkeep of facilities in the Emirate of Dubai, United Arab Emirates and reports directly to the Dubai Executive Coun ...

, he helped set up the Road Transit Authority (RTA), and masterminded Dubai's parking project and the ticketing system for the Dubai Metro.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Mahdi 1965 births Living people Emirati footballers United Arab Emirates international footballers Al Ahli Club (Dubai) players Association football midfielders Emirati football managers United Arab Emirates national football team managers 2015 AFC Asian Cup managers Emirati people of Iranian descent UAE Pro League players UAE Pro League managers