al-Wahda (Abu Dhabi)
Al-Wahda | |||
Basic data | |||
---|---|---|---|
Surname | Al Wahda Sports Cultural Club | ||
Seat | Abu Dhabi | ||
founding | 1974 | ||
president | Saeed bin Zayed Al Nahyan | ||
Website | alwahda-fc.ae | ||
First soccer team | |||
Head coach | |||
Venue | Al-Nahyan Stadium | ||
Places | 12,000 | ||
league | UAE Arabian Gulf League | ||
2018/19 | 3rd place | ||
|
al-Wahda ( Arabic نادي الوحدة الرياضي و الثقافي) is a football club from Abu Dhabi and one of the most popular clubs in the United Arab Emirates . He currently plays in the UAE Arabian Gulf League , the highest league in the country.
history
The club was created in 1984 through the merger of two clubs - the Arabic al-Wahda /الوحدةmeans in German "the unit". The club colors are gray, white and maroon (a mixture of brown and purple). The club's coat of arms shows a gazelle ( Abu Dhabi means "father of the gazelle").
It took the club a decade to win its first title: in 1995 the club won the UAE Cup, in 2000 it won the President Cup , in 1999, 2001 and 2005 they became national champions, and in 2006 they were runner-up champions. The 1998/1999 season went into club annals because goalkeeper Hussain Ali was voted “Best Goalkeeper in the League” and Fahad Massaood was voted “Player of the Year”, while al-Buri Lah secured the national championship title for his club as top scorer in the Emirates. In 2007/08, the club reached the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League . There they lost against Sepahan Isfahan on a two-way leg 3-1.
Al Wahda plays in the Al-Nahyan Stadium, which was built in 1995 (Arabic:ملعب آل نهيان), which has 12,000 seats and is three kilometers from Abu Dhabi city center. In 2003 group matches of the Junior World Cup took place in the arena .
The club has a well-organized scouting system. Since 1993 the club has organized the Zayed Cup (formerly al-Wahda Cup ), an international U-17 tournament for teams from Europe and South America.
Club successes
National
- Champion 1998/99, 2000/01, 2004/05, 2009/10
- Cup winner 1999/00
- Cup winners 2015/16, 2017/18
- Super cup winners 2011, 2017, 2018
Continental
- AFC Champions League
- Semi-finals 2007/08
Known players
- Kalusha Bwalya (1997-1998)
- Lamin Conteh (1998-2002)
- Phil Masinga (2001-2002)
- Paulo Sérgio (2002)
- Yunis Mahmud (2003-2004)
- Javad Nekounam (2005-2006)
- Réver (2007)
- Leonardo Silva (2007-2008)
- André Luciano da Silva (2007-2010)
- Alecsandro Barbosa Felisbino (2008-2009)
- Josiel da Rocha (2008-2010)
- Fernando Baiano (2009-2012)
- Hugo Henrique Assis do Nascimento (2010–2012)
- Damián Díaz (2013-2015)
Trainer
From August 5th to October 11th 2006 the German Horst Köppel trained the club. He was dismissed after just four competitive games (record: 1 win, 3 defeats). It was the fourth coaching change for the club in a year.
- Jo Bonfrere (1998, 2001)
- Rolf Fringer (2003)
- Horst Köppel (2006)
- Josef Hickersberger (2008–2010, 2010–2012, 2013)
- László Bölöni (2010)
- Branko Ivanković (2012-2013)
- José Peseiro (2013-2015)
- Javier Aguirre (2015-2017)
- Laurențiu Reghecampf (2017-2018)
- Thomas Klimmeck (2017-2018)
Individual evidence / explanations
- ↑ rsssf.com: Overview of the masters