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Al Dhafra FC

Emirati professional football club

Summary

Emirati professional football club

FieldValue
clubnameAl Dhafra
imageAl Dhafra FC.png
upright0.7
altlogo
fullnameAl Dhafra Football Club
nicknameAl Fursan Al Gharib
(The Western Knights)
founded2000
groundAl Dhafra Stadium
capacity5,020
ownerHamdan bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
mgrtitleHead coach
managerZeljko Petrovic
leagueUAE Pro League
season2024–25
position1st of 14 (promoted)
website
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pattern_so1_dhafra2021h
leftarm165b7ec
body165b7ec
rightarm165b7ec
shorts1FFFF00
socks1FFFF00
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leftarm2003050
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(The Western Knights)

Al Dhafra FC () is an Emirati professional football club based in Madinat Zayed that competes in the UAE First Division 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 region of Abu Dhabi 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 for the first time in 2019. Around 2020 the club finally obtained their licenses, thus all pro league teams can compete in AFC competitions.

Honours

  • President's Cup
  • UAE First Division League
    • Champions (3): 2001–02, 2006–07, 2024-25
  • UAE Vice Presidents Cup
    • Champions (1): 2012

Season-by-season record

SeasonLvl.Tms.Pos.President's CupLeague Cup
2008–091128thSemi-FinalsFirst Round
2009–109thQuarter-Finals
2010–1112thRound of 16
2011–12284th—
2012–131148thFirst Round
2013–14Semi-FinalsSemi-Finals
2014–1511thFirst Round
2015–168thRound of 16
2016–177th
2017–1810th
2018–19Runner-ups
2019–207thFinalists
2020–2111thQuarter-Finals
2021–2212thRound of 16
2022–2314thQuarter-Finals
2023–242168th
2024–25141st
2025–26114

Notes 2019–20 UAE football season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates.

Players

Current squad

As of 18 January 2026

Reserve team

Out on loan

Coaching staff

PositionStaff
Head coachMNE Zeljko Petrovic
Assistant coachUAE Ahmed Al Hammadi
Goalkeeper coachPOR Alexandre Lopes
Fitness coachVacant
AnalystVacant
DoctorUAE Salem Mohammed
PhysiotherapistsVacant
InterpreterVacant
Team administratorUAE Khamis Al Mazrouei
Team managerUAE Sultan Al Hammadi
Technical directorBHR Ahmed Kamal Ahmed

Managerial history

NameNat.FromToRef.
Piet HambergNED20032004
Sebastião RochaBRA20052006
Ammar SouayahTUNMay 2007November 2007
Ayman El RamadiEGYNovember 2007August 2008
Mohammad KwidSYRSeptember 2008December 2008
Eid BarootUAEDecember 2008June 2009
Laurent BanideFRAJuly 2009February 2010
Slobodan HalilovićSRBFebruary 2010March 2010
Michel DecastelSWIMarch 2010November 2010
Alexandre GuimarãesCRCNovember 2010April 2011
Mohammad KwidSYRApril 2011June 2011
Baltemar BritoBRAJune 2011December 2011
Magdy MostafaEGYDecember 2011May 2012
Džemal HadžiabdićBIHMay 2012December 2012
Laurent BanideFRADecember 2012April 2013
Abdullah MesferUAEApril 2013May 2014
Anel KarabegBIHMay 2014September 2014
Marin IonROUSeptember 2014January 2015
Laurent BanideFRAJanuary 2015November 2015
Mohammad KwidSYRNovember 2015January 2018
Gjoko HadžievskiMKDJanuary 2018May 2018
Vuk RašovićSRBMay 2018September 2020
Mohammad KwidSYRSeptember 2020October 2020
Aleksandar VeselinovićSRBOctober 2020January 2021
Mohammad KwidSYRJanuary 2021October 2021
Rogério MicaleBRAOctober 2021March 2022
Badr Al IdrissiMARMarch 2022May 2022
Nebojša VignjevićSRBJuly 2022October 2022
Aleksandar VeselinovićSRBOctober 2022February 2023
Badr Al IdrissiMARFebruary 2023August 2023
Abdullah MesferUAEAugust 2023November 2023
Paulo ComelliBRADecember 2023February 2024
Alen HorvatCROMarch 2024May 2025
Željko PetrovićMNEMay 2025Present

References

References

  1. "Al Dhafra SCC". Perform.
  2. "Al Dhafra History". Al Dhafra FC.
  3. (27 June 2019). "الظفرة يستأنف ضد عدم منحه ترخيص المحترفين". البيان.
  4. (19 October 2020). "14 نادياً تحصل على الترخيص الآسيوي". البيان.
  5. [https://www.albayan.ae/five-senses/2007-05-24-1.771112 التونسي عمار السويح مدرباً للظفرة]
  6. [https://elaph.com/Web/Sports/2007/11/280980.html الظفرة الاماراتي يقيل مدربه التونسي السويح]
  7. [https://www.emaratalyoum.com/local-section/2008-08-31-1.176480 الرمادي: استقلت من الظفرة احتراماً لمهنة التدريب]
  8. [https://www.albayan.ae/sports/2008-09-01-1.670947 الظفرة يتعاقد مع السوري قويض لقيادة فريق الكرة]
  9. [https://www.albayan.ae/sports/2008-12-24-1.821893 عيد باروت مدرباً للظفرة محل قويض]
  10. [https://www.albayan.ae/sports/2010-02-14-1.219172 إقالة لوران بانيد مدرب الظفرة]
  11. [https://www.albayan.ae/sports/2010-11-24-1.589701 الظفرة ينهi تعاقده مع السويسري دي كاستال]
  12. [https://elaph.com/Web/Sports/2011/4/644492.html السوري القويض مدربا للظفرة الإماراتي]
  13. [https://www.emaratalyoum.com/sports/local/2011-06-29-1.406609 مساعد مورينيو مدرباً للظفــرة]
  14. [https://www.albayan.ae/sports/first/2011-12-07-1.1550480 مساعد مورينيو مدرباً للظفــرة]
  15. [https://www.albayan.ae/sports/emirates/2012-12-06-1.1779860 الظفرة يقيل حاجي وبانيد بديلاً]
  16. [https://www.albayan.ae/sports/emirates/2012-12-08-1.1780973 بانيد مدرب الظفرة الجديد يجتمع مع الإدارة واللاعبين اليوم]
  17. [https://www.albayan.ae/sports/emirates/2014-05-22-1.2127643 خميس المنصوري: 8 لاعبين يغادرون الظفرة]
  18. [https://sport360.com/article/football/arabian-gulf-league/26837/al-dhafra-appoint-marin-ion-replace-sacked-karabeg Al Dhafra appoint Marin Ion to replace sacked Karabeg]
  19. [http://www.alwasatnews.com/news/1051568.html الظفرة الإماراتي يقيل مدربه بانيد ويعين السوري قويض]
  20. [https://al-ain.com/article/aldhafra-koaid-gokika رحيل قويض عن تدريب الظفرة.. وجوكيكا بديلا]
  21. [https://gulfnews.com/sport/uae-sport/al-dhafra-appoint-rasovic-1.2220593 Al Dhafra appoint Rasovic]
  22. [https://alnahdanews.com/article/101449 نادي الظفرة يتعاقد مع المدرب محمد قويض]
  23. [https://www.albayan.ae/sports/emirates/2021-10-02-1.4260564 البرازيلي ميكالي مدرباً للظفرة خلفاً لقويض]
  24. [https://www.albayan.ae/sports/emirates/2022-03-03-1.4382725 الظفرة يقيل ميكالي ويعين المغربي الإدريسي مدرباً للفريق]
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