The United Arab Emirates national football team represents the United Arab Emirates in international association football and serves under the auspices of the country’s Football Association. United Arab Emirates Football History.
He played one World Cup in Italy in 1990 and lost all three matches. The UAE finished fourth in the 1992 Asian Cup and were runners-up as hosts in 1996. He won the Arabian Gulf Cup in 2007 and 2013. It finished third in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup and hosted the 2019 edition where it was eliminated in the semi-finals.
1st Match Played
The team’s first match was played on 17 March 1972 against Qatar at the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium and was won by Ahmed Chaubey’s lone goal. After that, the team faced three other Arab countries, losing to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait 4–0 and 7–0, respectively, and beating Bahrain 3–3. After participating in four Gulf Cup tournaments since 1972, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) hosted the 1982 edition. He finished third again like in the previous two tournaments.
AFC Asian Cup
In 1980, the UAE qualified for the AFC Asian Cup for the first time, which was held in Kuwait, and was drawn into Group B with Kuwait, runners-up South Korea, Malaysia, and Qatar. They drew 1–1 with Kuwait and lost three other matches to finish fifth in the group and ninth overall (out of ten teams). It also qualified for the next two tournaments, 1984 in Singapore and 1988 in Qatar, again getting out of the group stage in both. His first victory in the tournament came on 7 December 1984 against India under manager Heshmat Mohajrani.
In 1984, Mohajrani resigned and was replace by Carlos Alberto Pereira. Perera led the team in the 1988 Asian Cup and left his position after the tournament. He was replace by Mario Zagallo. Zagallo led the team to qualification for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. However, Zagallo resigned before the tournament and Parreira returned. The team finished fourth in the 1990 World Cup finals without a point, scoring two goals and conceding 11 goals. The trip was made into a documentary in 2016 titled Lights of Rome. Pereira was sacked after the tournament.
In the 1992 and 1996 Asian Cups, the UAE finished fourth and second respectively for the first time. The UAE was award a place in the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup as Saudi Arabia was hosting the games. United Arab Emirates Football History.
Gulf Cup
The UAE missed out on qualifying for the 2000 AFC Asian Cup in Lebanon and finished last in the 2002 Gulf Cup in Saudi Arabia. It was eliminate from the next three Asian Cup tournaments in the group stage. In the 2004 and 2007 editions, the United Arab Emirates were knock out by new players Jordan and Vietnam. In 2011, he finished the tournament without a goal. Coaches at the Emirates at the time included Carlos Queiroz, Roy Hodgson, and Dick Advocate. In 2006, United Arab Emirates appointed Bruno Metsu as the new manager. He led Emirates to the 2007 Gulf Cup title.
After hiring foreign coaches, in 2012 the UAE appointed Olympic team coach Mehdi Ali as the senior team manager. Ali began building a squad to invite players he had worked with at the youth level. He led Emirates to their second Gulf Cup title in 2013. In the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, the United Arab Emirates defeated Qatar 4–1 and Bahrain 2–1 before losing by one goal to Iran. United Arab Emirates Football History.
As group runners-up, they faced defending champions Japan in the quarter-finals and won on penalties to advance to the last four. In the semi-finals, they lost 2-0 to hosts Australia. In the third-place playoff, they defeated Iraq 3–2. The United Arab Emirates qualified through the AFC qualification where they finished fourth in Group B thus failing to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Ahmed Khalil was the top scorer in the qualification. Meanwhile, Mehdi Ali resigned from his post. United Arab Emirates Football History.
UAE Hosted Asian Cup
UAE hosted the 2019 Asian Cup, the second time they have hosted the AFC Asian Cup. In the Asian Cup tournament, the UAE reached the quarter-finals where they scored their first goal against Australia to secure their first win against the opposition. The semi-final was between the hosts and Qatar. After Qatar’s second goal, some spectators threw shoes onto the pitch. UAE lost 0-4 to Qatar for the first time since 2001. United Arab Emirates Football History.
The United Arab Emirates enter the second round of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers and was place alongside Southeast Asian rivals. The team had already appointed Dutch leader Bert van Marwijk. The Brit was sacked after two round losses to Thailand and Vietnam in the qualifiers, along with a group stage exit at the 24th Arabian Gulf Cup. Subsequently, the Emirates decided to naturalize Argentina’s Sebastián Tagliabúe, Brazil’s Caio Canedo Correa, and Fabio Virginio de Lima, three South American players who have never done so since the national team’s foundation. For more details click here